Vadehra Art Gallery is pleased to open the new season with the solo show titled AAJ KA HERO by a young and dynamic artist Sandip Pisalkar, winner of the Foundation of Indian Contemporary Art’s Emerging Artist Award 2008. As a part of the Award, Pisalkar received an eight-week studio-residency at the Montalvo Arts Center (California) and a solo show at Vadehra Art Gallery (New Delhi).

This set of works brings forth the several central concerns that Pisalkar has been grappling with since his days as a student – questions of control, hierarchy, institutionalisation and the greed of human consumption. Aaj Ka Hero is, in a way, a strong critique of power and authority, of systems and institutions, and of societal norms even in today’s highly technology driven world. The sarcasm and subversion of Pisalkar’s language is clear right from the title.

While on the one hand the artist’s critical opinion is strongly voiced through the allegoric skins of the works, the Pisalkar’s experimental urge (obsession even), especially with regard to medium and technology, is apparent in the complex, mechanised, kinetic contraptions that make the actual works themselves. His choice of found objects, combined and fused with new world technology, is an act of reviving the obsolete; an archaeological quest that does not just stop at museum display but extends it into the living world by making them interactive and animate.

Sandip Pisalkar has completed his GD in Sculpture from the Sir J.J.School of Art, Mumbai and finished post-diploma in Creative Sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.University of Baroda. He has to his credit several awards including the Bombay Art Society Award (2006), the International Danfoss Art Award (Denmark, 2008) and the FICA Emerging Artist Award (2008). As a young and upcoming artist he was invited to be a part of the Khoj PEERS Residency (New Delhi 2008).

The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art's Emerging Artist Award is an annual programme that focuses on identifying and promoting promising young artists from across India. The winners, chosen by an independent jury of artists and professionals, receive an international residency and a solo show in New Delhi. For further information about FICA and its programmes please visit www.ficart.org.