A bull. A ballerina. A Buddha. A baby T-Rex. And a big ant. All in one place. Frozen in steel – yet appearing to be in motion. These are but a few works of artist Kalyan S Rathore that are on display at ‘Active Canvas’, Jayanagar I Block, till February 23rd, 2010 in an exhibition titled ‘Verbs in Steel‘.
Kalyan S Rathore with one of his steel sculptures. Pic: Deepa Vaishnavi.
Industrial and Product Designing, Biology, Entrepreneurship, Ergonomics and biomechanical machines, Geometry, Contemporary Furniture are words that one would usually not associate with an artist, barring a few such as Kalyan S Rathore.
As a child, Rathore wanted to become ‘a doctor studying ants and their social systems’. But he went on to become an entrepreneur and set up his own brand of contemporary furniture (Human Designs). Rathore has always been interested in art, however, he has been a full time ‘contemporary’ artist only from the past three years.
Active Canvas
343, 10th A Main, 3rd Cross,
1st Block, Jayanagar
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Rathore’s love for nature and life forms can be seen from his works. A short video clip on cruelty to street dogs in Bangalore was featured in CNN-IBN (a national English news channel). It won him the runner-up award in CNN Citizen Journalist Award category in 2006. He has also, in less than three years, exhibited his works in different galleries in Bangalore.
His artistic talent finds expression through the mediums of painting and sculpture. His painting series, be it ‘Measured Disorder’, ‘Resolve’ or ‘Bulls’, consist of strong lines and appear to call out to the viewer – wanting to communicate something – profound at times and sublime to others. His sculptures on the other hand, mostly in stainless steel, consist of clearly defined shapes and give an illusion of movement and strength – be it the muscles of the bull, the ballerina’s legs or the T – Rex. The huge ants definitely look very menacing. So do the beetles in his work ‘Invasion’.
Rathore firmly believes that "All of us have the ability to be creative..there is always something in all of us that is left undiscovered until the opportunity arises." Taking this belief forward, Kalyan has also conducted a workshop titled ‘The Mechanism of Creativity’ to enable people to find their creative core and expand on it.
Rathore has no fixed agenda on what he wants to do next. He, however, intends that his works should be such that they have universal appeal – something that people can relate to. ⊕