Tallur’s stance on the Indian traditional culture is somewhat distanced as he has spent a long time away from home; thus, although his works employ Indian folk handicraft as the medium, they destroy icons of traditional Indian culture and deny Indian tradition. However, his sensational works aren’t meant to only make the viewers uncomfortable. By attaching mechanical apparatus or pouring concrete on statues of Buddha, Tallur’s shocking works nonchalantly throws jokes and humorous pun-filled titles. Through such approach, Tallur’s works uproot the Western-created notion of Orientalism, and suggest humor and futility in how the reshuffling of world power due to globalism has permeated into our everyday life.
Read MoreL.N. Tallur was born in 1971 in the south Indian state of Karnataka. He received a BFA degree in Painting from the Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts in Mysore in 1996, an MFA degree in Museology from the MS University in Baroda in 1998, and an MA in Fine Art from the Metropolitan University in Leeds, UK in 2002.
Solo shows of his works have been mounted at the Jack Shainman Gallery, New York (2013); Nature Morte, Berlin (2012), Nature Morte, New Delhi (2011); Arario Gallery, Beijing (2010); Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai (2009); Arario Gallery, New York (2008); Arario Gallery, Seoul (2007); Bose Pacia, New York (2000); and Chemould Gallery, Mumbai (1999). He is the recipient of the Sanskriti Award for Art from the Sanskriti Foundation of New Delhi in 2003 and the Skoda Prize Award in 2012, this for his solo exhibition entitled Quintessential at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai in 2011. His works were included in the 7th Asia Pacific Triennale at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia in 2012 and will be part of the upcoming Berlin Biennale in 2014. His solo exhibition entitled Balancing Act is currently on at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, USA, until March 23, 2014. The artist divides his time between India and South Korea.
