The fifth dimension

different strokes

L N Tallur (born 1971, Kundapura, South Kanara) is among the three finalists for the 2011 Škoda Prize for Indian Contemporary Art; the other two being Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat (b.1974) and Bangalore-based multi-media practitioner Navin Thomas (b.1974).
The Škoda Prize focuses on cutting-edge work of established mid-career artists as well as new ones, and is determined on the basis of best solo exhibitions held in the country during the last one year. The winner of the prize receives a cash award of Rs 10 lakh, while the two runners-up would get a four-week residency in Switzerland.

Tallur’s one-man show, Chromatophobia — The fear of Money, at Nature Morte, New Delhi in April 2011 has won him the nomination.  Chromatophobia, incidentally, is a medical term which refers to an abnormal and persistent fear of money. Sufferers are known to experience undue anxiety even though they realise their fear is irrational; they worry that they might mismanage money or that money might live up to its reputation as ‘the root of all evil’.

The central piece of Tallur’s exhibit was a large log of wood pivoted by two tall traditional bronze statuettes. Visitors were asked to ‘take out a coin from your pocket; take the hammer; take a deep breath; cleanse your mind from all worries, ugly thoughts and bad actions; nail/hammer the coin, make a wish in your CLEAN AND FRESH heart; and see your wish come true in a few days!’

Peter Nagy, director of Nature Morte, considers Tallur to be one of our most intrepid and victorious artists working today. “Tallur dances a jig around our sordid and sad devotion to money, well aware of the religious significance we have imbued it with, the commanding role it plays in all our pleasures and fears,” he wrote in the exhibition catalogue.

Nagy also points out how Tallur uses the classical sculpture of India as the starting point of several of his works, before combining and manipulating them, “confounding the established categorisations with which we usually interpret art: figuration and abstraction, traditional and contemporary, decorative and functional, creative and destructive, religious and secular.”

Lakshmi Narayana Tallur graduated from Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts, Mysore (BFA/painting), and obtained his master’s degree in museology (1997–1998) from M S University, Baroda. A Commonwealth scholarship took him to UK for his studies in contemporary fine art practice at Leeds Metropolitan University (2001–2002).

Over the years Tallur has had several solo exhibits: Past Modern Interactive Art Objects (Mumbai / 1999); Bose Pacia Modern (Soho, New York /2000); Bon Appetite (Seoul, Korea /2007); Antimatter (New York / 2008); Placebo (Mumbai / 2009); and Chromatophobia (Beijing, China / 2010; New Delhi / 2011). His sculptures and installations have featured in prestigious international exhibitions and curated shows in Paris, Leeds, Lisbon, Shanghai, New York, Mexico, Toronto, Madrid and Pusan.

Fascination for the morbid

Tallur’s works are known to creatively combine elements of the ancient with the modern, of the local with the global, of the matter with the material. Through an absorbing interaction of traditional and contemporary Indian motifs and symbols, he also brings about a new awareness and understanding of many social, political and economic issues of our time. Critics have wondered how Tallur is at once attracted to kitsch and popular culture; how his art shows a fascination for the morbid and the macabre; and how scientific and technological nightmares are conjoined twins in his work.

“Unapologetically opportunistic, Tallur trawls the flotsam of current affairs and the internet to harvest outlandish ideas, rumours and hoaxes, while at the same time picking up news stories that offer insight into economic processes,” says curator and academic Chaitanya Sambrani. “Medical glossaries, market analyses, anecdotes about iconic design, disputes over intellectual property, spiritual formulae and moral tales, reports about technological disasters and environmental degradation — all these and more are fodder for his omnivorous imagination.”

On his part, Tallur — who shares his time between India and South Korea — admits to playing the role of a curator in his works, bringing in the context for a discourse. He believes that no culture has been as open to critical evaluations as the Indian culture — where ‘cynicism’ and ‘rationalism’ live together; and ‘witchcraft’ and ‘spacecraft’ are digested alike.

Bubbling with ideas

Completely in awe with the sheer range of diversity the country presents, he confesses to personally enjoying absurdity a lot. “My works try to explore the imminent absurdities present with this multi-layered, structurally complex diversity... these diversities and disparities provide me with a lot of fodder for my works.”

Tallur’s sketch book is full of bubbling ideas, intriguing plans and exhaustive blueprints. His large-scale installations which combine many mechanical and electronic devices and processes come out of meticulous research and laborious spadework. He collaborates with many skilled artisans and technicians while bringing his projects to fruition. The daring artist often hoists cleverly constructed working models and even whole sets of machinery (like barbed wire making machine, nail making machine, etc) into the gallery space and presents them as works of art.

Presently, Tallur is giving final touches to his works which will be shown in a forthcoming solo exhibition titled ‘Quintessential’ at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum (BDL), the oldest museum in Mumbai.

For Tallur, museums are entry points into the artworld; they are passport-sized photographs of a culture. “Here, our heritage and culture operate like the specific facets of our identity that we want to project. Museums also leave a lot of blanks to be filled ‘in between’ sections.”

The artist, who will turn 40 on December 13, is thrilled at the prospect of setting his own works alongside many objects of antiquity at BDL. “A museum normally exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment. I believe, when an object of art is ‘museumized’, that creates a fifth dimension; which is further addition to Einstein’s four dimensions (time — space). This show at BDL quintessentially narrates my theory of the ‘Fifth’ dimension.”

‘Quintessential’ opens on December 17 and goes on till February 4, 2012.