Rahul Mukherjee est né en 1975. Diplômé du College of Art de New Delhi il poursuit ses études à la fameuse M.S. University de Baroda. C’est dans cette Ecole d’Art que nombre des plus grands artistes nés dans les années 1930 ont enseignés (Gulam Mohamed Sheikh, Bhupen Khakhar, Jyoti Bhatt parmi ceux proches du langage plastique dont a hérité Rahul Mukherjee) et c’est de cette école que viennent naturellement plusieurs artistes contemporains, aujourd’hui les plus en vue sur la scène internationale.
La très jeune œuvre de Rahul Mukherjee paraît de prime abord, particulièrement pour le regard d’un occidental, être exclusivement influencée par une forme de surréalisme. Si l’artiste joue certainement de cette influence culturelle apprise au cours de ses longues études, il est certain, que vient se mêler à cette influence livresque celle de la rue et de ces innombrables images représentant le non moins prolifique panthéon de déesses et de dieux hindous. Ici, les mythes se télescopent comme les stars de cinéma s’arrachent le devant de l’affiche. Gandhi ramasse une poignée de sel tandis qu’un colosse Hanumam, le dieu singe, image du parfait disciple admirateur de Râma et avatar de Vishnu, porte sur ses épaules une montagne encore simplement esquissée d’un trait dans un bloc de pierre dont elle sera un jour issue. La mise en abîme de personnages semblable à des Gandhi lilliputiens évoquent la fuite du temps, l’équilibre et le déséquilibre des forces en mouvement. En son ombre, le colosse porte, en lieu et place du simple bloc de pierre, une forteresse.
On le voit, aussitôt esquissée en quelques lignes, cette œuvre nous amène, avec facétie, à la croisée des chemins, des pistes, des connaissances. Le kaléidoscope culturel est aussi l’une des forces de l’art contemporain Indien.
Rahul Mukherjee was born in 1975. With a degree from the New Delhi College of Art, he continued his studies at the famous M.S. University of Baroda. This is the art school that brought together some of the greatest artists of the generation born in the 1930's as professors (Gulam Mohamed Sheikh, Bhupen Khakhar, Jyoti Bhatt among those close to the esthetic language inherited by Rahul Mukherjee) and naturally it is from this school that many of the high-visibility contemporary artists on the international scene have come.
Rahul Mukherjee's current work may appear, especially to a Western eye, to have been exclusively influence by a form of surrealism. Although the artist certainly plays on this cultural influence, acquired during his long studies, nevertheless this bookish influence is mixed with the impact of the street and the innumerable images representing the equally prolific pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses. Here myths collide and overlap not unlike movie stars competing for top billing. Gandhi picks up a handful of salt while the colossus Hanumam, the monkey god, image of the perfect worshiping disciple of Râma and an avatar of Vishnu, holds on his shoulders a mountain that is only sketched in with a few lines on a block of stone from which it will emerge one day. The top-down view on figures like Lilliputian Gandhi's suggests the passage of time, the balance and imbalance of forces in movement. The shadow of the colossus holds not a block of stone on his shoulders but a fortress.
We can see, sketched out in a few lines, a work that brings us humorously to a crossing of roads, paths, knowledge. The cultural kaleidoscope is also one of the strengths of contemporary Indian art.
Expositions
Group Show of four artists, Gallerie Alternatives, July 2007.
Mapping Baroda’, Art Room Gallery, New Delhi, 2007.
‘Art & Design’-Elle Show, Curated by Dr. Alka Pande, Oberoi Hotel, Mumbai, 2007.
Tryst with Telangana’, Sarjan Art Gallery, Baroda. 2007.
Group show by Art Room & Reddotart Gallery (Mumbai), New Delhi. 2006.
Synchrome – 3’, Akar Prakar Gallery, Kolkata. 2006.
“Nomenclature 2 – Who’s Who?” by Red Earth Art Galleries Pvt. Ltd. at LANXESS ABS Gallery, Baroda. 2006.
‘11th Harmony Art Show’, Nehru Centre, Worli, Mumbai. 2006.
‘Contemporary Indian Art’ by Lalit Kala Akademi at Myanmar. 2006.
Online Exhibition by Vikram Sethi on www.thearttrust.com, Mumbai. 2005.
‘Nomenclature–A Rethinking’, a group show at Lanxess ABS Gallery, Baroda. 2005.
‘Detour’, a Group Show at Gallery 88, Mumbai. 2005
‘Generation – To & Fro’, an Exhibition of 65 Senior & Young Contemporary Artists of Baroda. 2005.
‘Transgress’, a Group Show at Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai.2004.
‘Urban confluence’, a Group Show at Shridharani Gallery sponsored by Apparao Gallery, New Delhi. 2004
‘The Picture Family’ a Group Show at Apparao Gallery, Chennai. 2004
‘ Art & Design’, an exhibitions of paintings at Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi.2004
Genre of Imagination’, a Group Show at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. 2004.
‘Group – Ungroup‘, a Group Show of Nine Baroda Based Artists at Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi. 2004.
Feb Group show, 21 Artists, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. 2003.
‘Voices Against Violence’, organized by Citizens Confluence, at Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda. 2002.
Collections:
British Embassy, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sales Tax Office, College of Art, (Mumbai) Osians, Welcom Hotel and many other private collections at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nagpur, Leicestershire (U.K.), Singapore, Sharjah, Shakti Barman(Paris), California (U.S.A.), Germany & South Africa.
Rahul Mukherjee
