The Rise Of The Superstar

As Sudarshan Shetty, the Artistic Curator of the Third Edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, prepares to unveil one of the world’s biggest art exhibitions, he speaks to Art Life Soul on art, his practice, and the making of the big event

- K.G. Sreenivas

Sudarshan Shetty, 55, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, is the Artistic Curator of the Third Edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale— 2016. The Biennale, featuring 91 artists from over 40 countries, spread across seven venues, and lasting 108 days, begins on December 12, 2016, at Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi, in the historical port town on the south-western coast of India. Shetty was also one of the participating artists in the inaugural edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), an artist-initiated project, in 2012. The artist, who was officially chosen to helm the Biennale last year, has had a busy year, putting together the Third Edition of the Biennale, besides participating in the 20th Biennale of Sydney (March 18 –June 5, 2016), curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, and the Yinchuan Biennale (Sept 19 - Dec 18, 2016) curated by KMB Founder and Kochi-Muziris Biennale Foundation president Bose Krishnamachari. The Manguluru-born Shetty, who at Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai, was deeply influenced by the great western modernist Robert Rauschenberg, known for his ‘combines’, practises a wide swath of art production. Struggling with notions about the literal and the figurative at art school, Shetty soon moved from painting to installation early on in his career and embraced a deep scepticism about binaries. In turn, Shetty explored interrelationships — the gamut of the essential phenomenological challenges presented by a juxtaposition of objects, materials, mechanics, and even contraries. However, in his oeuvre, Shetty has consistently sought to strip his artistic expression of known narrative structures and obvious symbolisms. As an artist, Shetty made his maiden sale at a 2003 solo exhibition titled ‘Consanguinity’ organized by Nature Morte and Bose Pacia Modern in New Delhi. Reputed art institutions, such as the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum of Japan, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delh