Nature Morte is pleased to present six new sculptures by the artist L.N. Tallur. These works were first exhibited in his solo exhibition entitled “Quintessential” at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai (December 16, 2011 to February 6, 2012, curated by Dr. Tasneem Mehta), as part of the museum’s on-going program to invite contemporary artists to create new works in dialogue with the collection of late 19th Century applied and decorative arts.

This invitation was extremely appropriate for L.N. Tallur, as he holds a degree in Museology and most of his work appropriates classical Indian sculptures or references various methods of the presentation and display of objects. Tallur re-fabricated some objects from the museum’s collection to use in his own works, while also creating works that spoke about cross-cultural exchange and the construction of value. Three works on view at Nature Morte employ reproductions of 19th Century vitrines, sourced from the museum’s collection. In all of the works, Tallur’s sardonic sense of humour is evident, exploring his trademark manipulations of cultural artefacts to create sculptures that are both figurative and abstract, robust in their handling of materials but also cerebral in the issues they address.

L.N. Tallur was born in 1971 in the south Indian state of Karnataka. He received a BFA degree in painting from the Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts in Mysore in 1996, an MFA degree in Museology from the MS University in Baroda in 1998, and an MA in Fine Art from the Metropolitan University in Leeds, UK, in 2002. Solo shows of his works have been mounted at Nature Morte, New Delhi (2011); Arario Gallery, Beijing (2010); Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai (2009); Arario Gallery, New York (2008); Arario Gallery, Seoul (2007); Bose Pacia, New York (2000); and Chemould Gallery, Mumbai (1999). In addition to receiving the Sanskriti Award from the Sanskriti Foundation of New Delhi in 2003 and having his works included in many group exhibitions around the world, Tallur’s large-scale installation entitled “Souvenir Maker” was recently exhibited at the Devi Foundation in Gurgaon and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Singapore. He was a finalist for the 2012 Skoda Prize and Nature Morte will exhibit his new works at the Basel Art Fair in June. The artist currently divides his time between India and South Korea.