A glance at nominees for the Škoda Prize

Manjunath Kamath’s specially stylized backgrounds are overlaid with earthy slabs, making them reminiscent of decaying walls and rusted surfaces. They create a camouflage on the canvas to suggest the lies humans tell as a matter of habit. His ‘Collective Nouns’ was shown at Sakshi Gallery in Mumbai in April 2011.

Given Srikanth Kolari’s anxiety to don the role of a chronicler, the adoption of a picture-narrative format is unsurprising. Each of his photographs depicting the ravaged a coastline is accompanied by text that is carefully researched and puts the life and times of the subject into perspective. Srikanth Kolari’s ‘thereafter… Journeys in Jharia, Kashmir and the Tsunami Coast (Tamil Nadu)’ was shown at Institute of Indian Contemporary Art in Mumbai in July 2010 followed by other venues in Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi.

It is as if each work by L.N. Tallur is both and neither at the same time. They may appear quintessentially “Indian” at first, but they certainly participate in the most advanced dialogues surrounding sculpture today and reveal themselves to be both cosmopolitan and historically astute. L. N. Tallur’s ‘Chromatophobia: The Fear of Money’ was shown at Nature Morte in New Delhi, in April 2011.

It is in a visible darkness that Dhruv Malhotra sees while moving around city of Noida in the nights, the attention shifts to the anatomy of an aspiring metropolis. The focus is not the obvious signs that seek to define Noida but the less seen, in-between spaces that await being transformed and occupied. Dhruv Malhotra’s ‘Noida Soliloquy’ was shown at Photoink in New Delhi, from April to June 2010.

The works by Sumedh Rajendran make references to the changes, which are propelled by our own fear and anxieties, contribute to redrawing of existing socio-political vulnerabilities and even faiths. His ‘Dual Liquid’ was shown at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi, in September and October 2010.