Curator’s Notes
In addition to a Fine Art Practice, L.N. Tallur also studied Museology, which has given him a special perspective on the provenance and contexts for art objects. Tallur uses sculpture, wall pieces, interactive work, and site-specific installations to explore multiple layers of meanings in objects and images. He usually starts with traditional Asian sculptures as his reference, bringing contemporary ideas into new manifestations of these forms. In our exhibition we have two new works in bronze from his most recent series: “Glitch Tandava” and “CEO.” Each starts with a common sculpture that can be found in markets throughout India. Tallur subjects each to a barrage of manipulations utilizing the new technologies of Artificial Intelligence and 3-D Printing. The forms of the original sculptures are distorted and abused, appearing to become de-materialized, carrying only hidden traces of their original DNA. These new permutations are then cast in the most traditional of sculptural materials, bronze, contradicting the cutting-edge technologies that have brought them into the world. As with most of Tallur’s artistic practice, irony plays a central role, as if we are destined to always return to the same place we started no matter how much effort we put into going somewhere new.

Artist Bio
L. N. Tallur (b.1971) received a BFA in Painting from Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (1996), a MFA in Museology from Maharaja Sayyajirao University (1998), and a MA in in Contemporary Fine Art Practice from Leeds Metropolitan University (2002).

Tallur uses sculpture, wall pieces, interactive work, and site-specific installations to expose the absurdities of everyday life and the anxieties that characterize contemporary society. His work incorporates handmade craftsmanship, found objects, organic and industrial material; symbols of developing India, oftentimes creating a correlation between traditional and contemporary customs. The New York Times eloquently described the artist’s work: “each of his pieces is like a miniature curiosity cabinet, hand-assembled down to the smallest detail and packed with charmed and puzzling surprises.”

Tallur’s impressive sculptures and installations have been exhibited internationally, including at solo exhibitions in Germany, South Korea, India, China, and the United States. He recently had a major survey exhibition at the Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey, United States, in 2020 entitled Interference Fringe. Selected group exhibitions include The Idea of the Acrobat, Bikaner House, New Delhi (2020); The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace (2018, 2017); India and the World: History in Nine Stories, CSMVS Museum, Mumbai and National Museum, New Delhi (2017); Constructs/Constructions, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2015), After Midnight: Indian Modernism to Contemporary India 1947/1997, Queens Museum, New York (2015); The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT7), Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2012); Critical Mass: Contemporary Art from India, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel (2011); Meditation: Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum, Taiwan (2011); The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, Saatchi Gallery, UK (2010) and La Route de la Soir, Tri Postal, France (2010).