Nature Morte is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by the sculptor L.N. Tallur. 

One of India’s most promising young sculptors, L.N. Tallur has become known for recycling the classical figurative sculpture of Asia into surprisingly irreverent constructions which comment on the passage of time, the follies of human endeavors, and the absurd longings of nostalgia and consumerist sentimentality. 

The title of the show refers to the sport of fishing by employing cormorant birds (Ukai in Japanese), a technique developed in medieval China and Japan which travelled to Europe in the 17th Century. In order to control the cormorants, the fisherman ties a snare near the base of the bird’s throat which prevents it from swallowing fish larger than a certain size, enabling the fisherman to retrieve his catch by bringing the bird back to his boat. The artist sees this as a metaphor for the manipulations of human greed and, more specifically, its currently popular manifestation in the guise of out-sourcing labor through digital telecommunications. 

The sculptures in the exhibition range from manipulated figures in yogic poses or harm’s way, reconstituted machines that equate labor with violence, carved wooden reliefs picturing a scorched post-industrial society, and terracotta meditations on the strange entanglements of history. In all, L.N. Tallur displays prodigious skills involving the assemblage of materials, a rather baroque approach to composition, a susceptibility to rigmarole, and an elevated appreciation of mischief. 

*image (left)
© L. N. Tallur
courtesy of the artist and Nature Morte