N.S. Harsha
(b.1969, Mysore)

Drawing essentially from Indian imagery and philosophical concepts, Harsha creates a wide genre of works varying widely to include detailed figurative painting, miniature drawing, semi-abstractionist panels, community-based projects, and research-based,
cross-disciplinary collaborations that blur the boundaries between studio- and laboratory-based practices.

He often reflects on events and the act of beholding has been a consistent theme in his works. The figures in his work, be it painting, sculpture or public instalDrawing essentially from Indian imagery and philosophical concepts, Harsha creates a wide genre of works varying widely to include detailed figurative painting, miniature drawing, semi-abstractionist panels, community-based projects, and research-based, cross-disciplinary collaborations that blur the boundaries between studio- and laboratory-based practices. He often reflects on events and the act of beholding has been a consistent theme in his works. The figures in his work, be it painting, sculpture or public installation are invariably focussed on an event and are animated by a mutual curiosity, pointing out to something that is strange. He uses local materials and traditional artistic expression- such as rangoli (form of traditional decoration using coloured powder) for its fluid, transitory nature- to install interactive works that involve community participation and stress on democratic practice. In one of his recent set of works titled ‘Charming Nation’ (Gallery Chemould, 2006) the artist brings forth various aspects of Indian life, its peculiarities, its non- compliant troubles, lessons that must be learnt, situations that must be recognized in order to be dealt with by the next generation of Indians. Each painting makes a certain arrangement that suggests how things could be organised in an imaginative space as well as in the real world. His wit, for the viewers, resides in both the scale of the depictions and the finely summarized detail of the work. Harsha's oeuvre includes painting, large scale installations and community projects. In one of his recent works ‘Cosmic Orphans’ (2006) a site-specific painting installation at the Sri Krishnan Temple created for the Singapore Biennale, Harsha covered the entire surface of the rooftop above the inner sanctum and the floor surrounding the temple's tower with paintings of sleeping figures. Painted directly onto the floor using flat colours, the figures occupy a space not normally associated with traditional painting - their displacement provoking the audience to consider what is permitted and forbidden in relation to where they tread in the temple. His work reveals a political commentary within a framework of Indian miniature painting, the modern Indian narrative tradition and popular art. The figures in his delicate, sly and playful world are almost invariably focused on an event, animated by a mutual curiosity, pointing out something that is odd, incongruous or comically bizarre. For the viewer the wit resides as much in the scale of the depictions as it does in the finely summarised telling detail of the vignette. The artist lives and works in Mysore. lation are invariably focussed on an event and are animated by a mutual curiosity, pointing out to something that is strange. He uses local materials and traditional artistic expression- such as rangoli (form of traditional decoration using coloured powder) for its fluid, transitory nature- to install interactive works that involve community participation and stress on democratic practice. In one of his recent set of works titled ‘Charming Nation’ (Gallery Chemould, 2006) the artist brings forth various aspects of Indian life, its peculiarities, its non- compliant troubles, lessons that must be learnt, situations that must be recognized in order to be dealt with by the next generation of Indians. Each painting makes a certain arrangement that suggests how things could be organised in an imaginative space as well as in the real world. His wit, for the viewers, resides in both the scale of the depictions and the finely summarized detail of the work.

Harsha's oeuvre includes painting, large scale installations and community projects. In one of his recent works ‘Cosmic Orphans’ (2006) a site-specific painting installation at the Sri Krishnan Temple created for the Singapore Biennale, Harsha covered the entire surface of the rooftop above the inner sanctum and the floor surrounding the temple's tower with paintings of sleeping figures. Painted directly onto the floor using flat colours, the figures occupy a space not normally associated with traditional painting - their displacement provoking the audience to consider what is permitted and forbidden in relation to where they tread in the temple.

His work reveals a political commentary within a framework of Indian miniature painting, the modern Indian narrative tradition and popular art. The figures in his delicate, sly and playful world are almost invariably focused on an event, animated by a mutual curiosity, pointing out something that is odd, incongruous or comically bizarre. For the viewer the wit resides as much in the scale of the depictions as it does in the finely summarised telling detail of the vignette.

The artist lives and works in Mysore.