PRESS RELEASE *
Harsha Vardhana
THE LINES MAKETH THE WEB
September 19 – October 21, 2007
Opening Rrception, September 19, 6-9pm
Artist will be in attendance.
S. Harsha Vardhana was born in 1958 in a home that embraced art. However, while his father was the famed abstractionist, J. Swaminathan, he resisted the artistic impulse. Instead he went the science and business route, completing a Master's in Bio-Science at the Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences as well as a diploma in Business Management. He worked in the bio-medical industry for several years before he was inevitably bitten by the art bug.
Vardhana is not a painter by training. He is self-taught and his style is grounded in spontaneous creation. It is predominantly concerned with visual experience over intellectual stuffiness. There is a rather child-like impetus to his art, one that reveals the primitivist undertones to Vardhana's intentions: an innate feeling for form untethered by mental interference. It is a physical, emotional, intuitive experience.
This is not to say that there is little calculation in his oeuvre. Despite his brash applications, Vardhana is critically concerned with balance. For instance, his paper works and canvases are dominated by his gestural triangles. These have been read as representations of the ancient symbols for male and female form. And while the organic quality is attractive, Vardhana is more interested in their graphics and geometrism.
In his new series which make up The Lines Maketh the Web, white and silver play a more significant role and a softer palette is approached. Vardhana's aesthetic continues to pay homage to Rothko's color fields, which he redefines with his scribbles echoed across the surface. They have become a hallmark to the lyrical and delicate abstraction he has developed.
Since 1993 he has been solely devoted to his artistic career. He has his first solo exhibition in 1997 and has had many all around the world since. Group shows include Post Modern Indian Art, USA, 2D/3D Hong Kong Visual Arts Center 2003 and the First Biennale of Contemporary Art, Romania 2005. His work has been displayed at exhibitions like the Bharat Bhavan Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art, Bhopal, 1996; Gallery Lakeeren, Mumbai, 1996 and 'The Pastel', Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi, 1996. Vardhana works and lives in New Delhi.
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The Lines Maketh the Web opens concomitant with the launch of Aicon Gallery's new website. Aicon first changed its name from ArtsIndia in March and announced the change along with the opening of its new space in London. Having taken over the former Gagosian location in Mayfair, Aicon London is the largest space to exhibit Indian art.
Aicon has indeed come a long way from its online-only status. Now Aicon is a three-space venture and has developed as the definitive outlet for modern and Indian art outside India. This new website acts as the final phase to Aicon's new identity and re-branding.