Nature Morte is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by the Bangalore-based artist Krishnaraj Chonat, the artist’s first solo show in New Delhi. Employing a wide variety of materials and techniques, Chonat creates complex sculptures that resemble both figures and landscapes, but always just barely, hovering between the organic and the man-made, between the recognizable and the illusive.

Chonat is inspired by the phenomenon of mass tourism in the globalized context, stating that “the exhibition seeks to highlight the significance of the human emotional component in the experience of the tourist landscape.” His works challenge our preconceived notions of the exotic, the authentic, the synthetic, and the quotidian, all slippery slopes indeed. His constructions refer to museum dioramas, historical artifacts, architectural models, natural history specimens, and displays found in sporting goods stores. Included in the exhibition will be Chonat’s paintings on paper, delicate and resonant works which sketch out the ghostly apparitions of monuments, tourist sites, and the mirages of historical events.

Krishnaraj Chonat was born in Chennai in 1973 and lives and works in Bangalore. He earned a BFA degree from the Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishad, Bangalore in 1994 and went on to get a Post-Diploma degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda in 1996. Solo shows of his work have been mounted at Gallery SKE in Bangalore (2004 and 2010) and Project 88 in Mumbai (2007). He has participated in a number of important museum survey exhibitions of Indian contemporary art including those mounted by the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2011); the Essl Museum, Vienna (2009); the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2008); The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh (2007); the Daimler Chrysler, Berlin (2007); and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris (2005).

Image: © Krishnaraj Chonat, Nature Morte