Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Untitled lll, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 152 x 366 cm / 60 x 144 inches (triptych)
P.R. SATHEESH, Untitled lll, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 152 x 366 cm / 60 x 144 inches (triptych)


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To view P.R. Satheesh's large-scale, often multi-panel paintings, is to be overwhelmed by the unbridled currents of his pigment and his heightened sense of colour. There is a fluidity and spontaneity in his application of throbbing blue-greys, acid yellows and luminous greens, the percussions of thick vermilion and chalky pink. His layered compositions suggest the play of light filtering through forest canopy and undergrowth. This is no coincidence. Satheesh's spice-farming family had moved from the plains, to the mountains in Munnar. He spent his childhood in a border zone between farm and forest, where one's life might depend on the accurate reading of signs indicating changing seasons, sudden shifts in weather, or the incursion of predators. 

Although he has lived, studied and practised his art in Trivandrum, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, Satheesh decided to return to the family farm, and for several years now has continued making art while also working on the farm. His gestural expression generates its own distinctive vocabulary of loop, spiral, smear and dribble. Through this turbulence, we detect a choreography of faces. We sense the continuous, constantly negotiated interrelationships among strokes and currents, as well as figures both vestigial and manifest, across his picture surface. Satheesh records the passage of an elusive self through a kaleidoscope of personae. 

Born 1970 in Kerala, Satheesh attained a Bachelor's Degree in Painting from the Government College of Fine Arts in Trivandrum. He has participated in the 4th edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, curated by Anita Dube, Kochi, 2018-19. His works are in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi and Kunstdepot Goeschenen, Switzerland.  

SOLO EXHIBITIONS   

2019      "Frenetic", Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS   

2018-19 "Possibilities For A Non-Alienated Life", 4th edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, curated by Anita Dube, Kochi, Kerala
2015      "Remembering M V Devan", Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi, Durbar Hall Art Gallery, Kochi, Kerala 
2011      "Niraporul", Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi, Durbar Hall Art Gallery, Kochi. Kerala 
1997      40th National Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Lalitha Kala Akademi, Bengaluru, Karnataka 
1997      "Group Show", Herwitz Gallery of Contemporary Indian Art, Presented by Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 
1997      "Art Wear Show", Husain-Doshi Gufa, Ahmedabad, Gujarat            
1995      "65th/66th Annual All India Exhibition", AIFACS, New Delhi 
1994      "11th Annual Open Exhibition", Royal Overseas League, Over-Seas House, London 
1992/1995/1997     Lalitha Kala Akademi, Durbar Hall Art Gallery, Kochi, Kerala   

RESIDENCIES   

2019      Kunstdepot Goeschenen, Switzerland  

AWARDS  

1998      National Scholarship for Young Artists in different cultural fields by Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India 
1997-98    "Honourable Mention Award", Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi 
1997      "Scholarship for Young Artist", Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad, Gujarat              
1996      "Award for Drawing", AIFACS, New Delhi 
1995      Research Grant, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi   

COLLECTIONS
  
Kunstdepot Goeschenen, Switzerland 
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi 

 

EXHIBITIONS

P.R. Satheesh "FRENETIC"

October 23, 2019 - December 31, 2019

PRESS

ARTFORUM

by Zeenat Nagree, ARTFORUM 

Memories of a Home

by Dipti Nagpaul, The Indian Express 

Jaivah Spandanangalude Gathe

by Devan Madangarli , Kairaliyalude Kaka  


Meet Your Artist : PR Satheesh
Born in Bison Valley, near Munnar, and into the realities of farmland conflict and the stirring wilderness, artist PR Satheesh draws heavily from his intimate relationship with nature.