Bengaluru’s MAP holds retrospective on artist Krishna Reddy, the eternal student

While art is often considered the domain of the high brow, an awareness of the life story tends to soften that stance. However, when it comes to Krishna Reddy, it is his unceasing wonder of the world around him that makes one forget his work could be considered intellectual, cerebral even.

Krishna Reddy was not only a printmaker, but also a sculptor and a teacher; the year 2024 marks the beginning of his birth centenary which is why Rhyme Unbroken was curated by Arnika Ahldag and Kuzhali Jaganathan at the Museum of Art and Photography.

It always helps to have works that take one through different decades of an artists’ life when planning a retrospective, and this is where Arnika says they struck gold as they have a great set of artist proofs gifted by Harsha and Srilatha Reddy which helped them trace Krishna’s work all the way back to his early years.

As the city has always been one of the primary centres for printmaking, the curators felt an exhibition such as this would appeal to art students. “Krishna hailed from a small rural town in Andhra Pradesh and he went abroad to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London at a time when a lot of modernists had enrolled there. From Slade, he went to Paris and New York, eventually becoming a renowned artist in the United States. His is a story that would fascinate a lot of people,” says Arnika.

Influence and methodology

Krishna was fortunate to land thick in the middle of one of the most exciting times in world art and culture — post War Europe. He met Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Alberto Giacometti and others, and would have intense discussions with them at cafes and ateliers. This wider world view is reflected in his work.

“These greats were talking about art and art making, working together and learning from each other. They looked at each other’s work. To look at his practice through the lens of his life’s encounters, makes his work quite interesting,” says Arnika

As an artist and as a person, Krishna was a lifelong student and his exposure and learning from the masters, cascaded into his role of a teacher. Kuzhali says, “It was not just contemporary printmakers who were influenced by him, he encouraged everyone to co-learn and that was the way he taught his students too.”

She adds, “It is possible he absorbed this method of learning from his mentor Jiddu Krishnamurti who believed there were no hierarchies in teaching, but saw everyone on an equal platform — hearing, listening and co-learning.”

From Rhyme Unbroken by Krishna Reddy
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Kuzhali says there was always an underpinning of constant learning and evolution about Krishna and his work. “Different literature we researched around Krishna pointed to this trait. According to him, we had to inhabit this world with a sense of curiosity and that should never dim as it eventually paves the way for creative potential.”

“We rarely look at anything the same way every time; it’s always different. That is the sort of curiosity Krishna built on,” she adds.

Driving force

Apart from a sense of wonder at the world, Krishna also had a lot of empathy for his fellow human beings. “How he saw experiences in other people was one of Krishna’s most striking aspects. He was not somebody weighed down by the happenings in his life, but was one who observed and learnt throughout,” says Arnika, adding it motivated Kuzhali and her to focus on him as a person, observer, student and learner, while structuring Rhyme Unbroken.

Both curators believe this sense of compassion is refreshing in current times when the world is fractured along the lines of religion, identity, nationality and so on. “It is surprising to think that a generation of people from so long ago were able to remove themselves from such polarisation,” says Arnika.

“It is amazing to read about his open, all-inclusive world view and how he lived with this approach to life. Looking at his art through that lens in this moment in time, offers one a sense of respite,” she adds.

Kuzhali says it is fascinating how Krishna was influenced by biochemistry, botany, geometry and dance, and how he had a multi-dimensional approach to art. “This is clear to see in two of his series — in both Life and Circus the way bodies move, the placement of limbs, the use of Venn geometry — Krishna’s use of space is quite deliberate,” she adds.

From Rhyme Unbroken by Krishna Reddy
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Legacy

Arnika and Kuzhal say the course of their research led them to interacting with printmakers in India and they found many of them, such as RM Palaniappan as well as younger artists, were inspired by Krishna’s multidisciplinary way of thinking where printmaking was concerned. By itself, printmaking is a technique-based discipline but with him, even the process of plate making was part of his art, instead of a technique to create art, feels Kuzhali.

“His plate is almost like a sculpture, and the way he uses movement within his prints is dynamic. The making of the plate was an inward-looking experience as was the application of colour by hand. There was also a philosophical bent to looking at things, and then thinking of them in abstract terms,” she says.

Rhyme Unbroken

“To marvel and wonder is the beginning of learning.” Visitors to MAP will see this quote which encapsulates what the exhibition is about. Even for the uninitiated, walking into Rhyme Unbroken could be akin to seeing high school microscope slides mounted on the walls, and the scientific, diagrammatic or geometric disposition to the works on display could seem misplaced.

“However, just sticking with his thought process, and then looking at his work and coming to your own conclusion gives one a glimpse of the way Krishna’s mind worked. There is no completion to the exhibition, rather it is an idea for something new to begin which I find quite inspirational,” says Kuzh

Some of the plates Krishna used to create prints have also been exhibited at the show.

Rhyme Unbroken, a retrospective of artist Krishna Reddy, will be on display at MAP till January 5, 2025.