Nature Morte is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by the Mysore-based artist Alexis Kersey. Using his characteristic medium of inlaid panels, Kersey explores the diverse iconography of India today. On view will be a suite of portraits of anonymous characters culled from a variety of spheres: the celebrity cultures of Bollywood and Hello! magazine, the quintessentially Indian overlap of politicians and spiritual gurus, heroes of the secular space (businessmen, astronauts, and airline pilots), characters from mythologies both Hindu and Christian. Kersey excavates images from the India of his childhood, when a geeky naivete was standard, what we now view as both charming and perhaps sentimental. The panels are constructed using the traditional technique of inlaid woods, distinctive of Mysore, while Kersey adds plastics of garish colors and mother-of-pearl in to the mix. The resulting surfaces are also redolent of a recently by-gone India of teak wood consoles, laminated furniture and Rexine upholstery.

Alexis Kersey was born in Mysore in 1972. He has held solo exhibitions of his works at the British Library in London, the Apparao Galleries in Chennai, the British Council and the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. His most recent solo show with Nature Morte was in March/April 2009 entitled “Cartographics.”