At Bose Pacia, New York: May 14 – June 27, 2009

Nature Morte is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Ranbir Kaleka entitled "Reading Man." This is the artist's first solo exhibition in New Delhi, where he lives and works, since his exhibition at the Art Today gallery in 1995. The artist has continued with his characteristic style of figurative painting which verges on the fantastical, the narrative and the commemorative. The paintings are large, densely complicated and uncommonly colored, depicting figures in the midst of dream-like landscapes and psychological spaces.

The largest work in the show is a multi-canvas installation entitled "Reading Man" that also incorporates sculptures and found objects. With this work, Kaleka brings painting into the realm of theatre, creating both the backdrop and the actors, synthesizing a number of artistic languages into a cohesive scenographic composition.

Ranbir Kaleka was born in 1953, raised in the Punjabi city of Patiala and studied at the College of Art in Chandigarh (1970-75) and received a Masters Degree in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London in 1987. He has held solo exhibitions of his works at Bose Pacia in New York (2005 & 2007) and Art Today in New Delhi (1995). His works have been included in most of the museum shows of Indian contemporary art that have been mounted around the world in the past decade, including: "Chalo! India" at the Mori Museum in Tokyo (2008); "India Moderna" at the Institute of Modern Art in Valencia, Spain (2008); "New Narratives" at the Chicago Cultural Institute (2007); "Horn Please" at the Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland (2007); "Edge of Desire" at the Asia Society in New York (2005); "iCon: India Contemporary" at the Venice Biennale (2005); and "body.city" at the House of World Cultures in Berlin (2003). In 2007 he was commissioned to create a permanent video installation for the new Spertus Museum in Chicago and in 2008 his work was included in the Sydney Biennale.