Finding inspiration in the chessboard

In his latest exhibition in Mumbai, artist Arvind Sundar explores the synergy between chess, art and mathematics

- Anindo Sen

(COURTESY THE ARTIST/ANUPA MEHTA CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY)

Last year, a woman from Chennai reached out to Coimbatore-based Arvind Sundar on Instagram.

Her 13-year-old son was an aspiring artist and an ardent follower of Sundar’s work, which are inspired by mathematical concepts like grids and geometry. She requested the artist to visit their home during his next trip to Chennai. The teenager's father turned out to be chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. A free wheeling conversation with the family covered a broad range of topics—from international art that had moved Anand to artist Marcel Duchamp’s fascination with chess, and the deep relationship between the game and mathematics. Sundar, 32, who completed his masters’ in painting and drawing from University of Cincinnati's School of Art, came back inspired.

A year later, that serendipitous encounter forms the basis for the ongoing exhibition, Cosmos II: Chasing Infinity, at Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art Gallery in Colaba, Mumbai. This is Sundar's third solo at the gallery. The artist's earlier work focused on geometric shapes—with the application of related iconcents like the golden ratio and visible influence of Russian masters like Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky.