Friday, January 4, 2013

A solo show by Alexis Kersey

An exhibition of new artworks by Alexis Kersey takes place at Nature Morte, Gorgaon.

Using his characteristic medium of inlaid panels, the Mysore-based artist looks to explore the diverse iconography of India today. On view are a suite of portraits of anonymous characters expertly culled from diverse spheres of life: the celebrity cultures of Bollywood and Hello! magazine, heroes of the secular space (astronauts, pilots and businessmen,), characters drawn from both Hindu and Christian mythologies, the quintessentially overlap of politicians and spiritual gurus of India.

Alexis Kersey combines marquetry techniques with painting to make lusciously hybridized portraits of other-worldly beings. He excavates peculiar images from the India right from his childhood, when a geeky naivete was standard, what we now see as both charming and perhaps a touch sentimental. The panels on view are constructed employing the traditional technique of inlaid woods, quite distinctive of Mysore, while the artist adds plastics of garish colors and mother-of-pearl into the mesmerizing mix.

The resulting surfaces are redolent of a recently by-gone India of laminated furniture, Rexine upholstery and teak wood consoles. Born in the city of Mysore in 1972, Alexis Kersey has held solo shows of his wonderful works at the British Library based in London; the Apparao Galleries, Chennai; the British Council as well as the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. His most recent solo exhibition, entitled ‘Cartographics’, was also with Nature Morte (2009).

Just to elaborate more on his career, the artist studied with the south Indian sign painters, and developed a style of painting, which could be termed Indian Pop. His first exhibit was in 2004 at the British Council galleries in Delhi. It combined vernacular languages and images into captivating comical signs. He then cultivated a style of fascinating figurative painting, combining rock'n'roll subcultures with traditional religious iconographies.

These artworks were featured in solos courtesy Apparao Galleries in different cities of India and also London. His work on display at Nature Morte in 2008 had combined oil paintings with inlaid wooden panels/ mirrors so as to create densely layered portraits and icons that swirled with both menace and energy.

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