Surendran Nair (born 1956) is an Indian artist who works with

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

, printmaking and

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

and his works are inspired from surrealism and

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sym ...

.Amrita Jhaveri, ''A Guide to 101 Modern and Contemporary Indian Artists'', India Book House, 2005

Early life

Nair was born in the south Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

where he took a diploma in painting from the

College of Fine Arts Trivandrum The College of Fine Arts Kerala is a fine arts college located in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). History The college was founded in 1881 by Moolam Thirunal Sir Rama Varma, the Maharaja for the state of Travancore. The college was first known ...

. Later he pursued postgraduate work at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.U., Baroda, taking a diploma in printmaking.

Career

Surendran Nair worked in a realistic style during the 1980s, creating both strong pen and ink drawings and also etchings and lithographs. His works from these years were primarily portraits. In the 1990s Nair worked more and more with oil on canvas, starting his long preoccupation with "corollary mythologies" that drew upon ancient allegories reinvented as modern day fables. Near the end of the 1990s Nair created a portfolio of hand-coloured etchings collectively titled "The Labyrinth of Eternal Delight". The imagery in these etchings has parallels with the works of the Italian artist Francesco Clemente, but actually is a direct outgrowth from Nair's "Corollary Mythologies". The artist has become known not only for his paintings, but also for his whimsical and preposterously long titles, such as "Tonight I am Coming to Visit You in Your Dream and None Will See and Question Me; Be Sure to Leave Your Door Unlocked, Cuckoonebulopolis, 2002". This series, "Cuckoonebulopolis", was the artist's primary statement in the first decade of the 21st century.

Ranjit Hoskote Ranjit Hoskote (born 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He has been honoured by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award and the Sahitya ...

, ''Surendran Nair: Itinerant Mythologies'', Sakshi Gallery, 2009 Nair became famed in India during 2000 for his painting "An Actor Rehearsing the Interior Monologue of Icarus" which depicts a naked man with strapped-on wings standing atop the Ashoka Column. An uproar was created when governing bodies dominated by right wing nationalist groups decided this painting should be rejected from an exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi on the grounds that it was irreverent toward a national symbol. Nair proceed to remove both himself and all of his paintings in a protest that was supported by India's artistic and cultural community.

Collections

Surendran Nair's works can be found in collections that include the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, the

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galler ...

, The National Gallery of Australia, and The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Major Exhibitions

Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT3), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (199

References

External links

"Surendran Nair Profile,Interview and Artworks"

Palette Art Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, Surendran 1956 births Living people Painters from Kerala 20th-century Indian painters Indian portrait painters People from Ernakulam district Indian male painters 20th-century Indian male artists