A Line Taking A Walk
Observe a drawing by K. S. Kulkarni (1916 - 1994) while reading Paul Klee's statement that “a drawing is formed when a line takes a walk”. This exhibition of select drawings invites viewers to explore the fresh and unique forms emergent from the adventures taken by Kulkarni’s lines. At the core of K.S. Kulkarni’s unique pictorial language is a highly inventive use of line. He challenged the boundaries between abstract and representational, not through the ambiguities of texture and spatial extent, but rather through the delineation of form. With a free, sometimes meandering spirit, the human and animate forms evoked by Kulkarni’s lines often feel like human forms reduced to patterns or serial geometries, floating between abstraction and figuration, between ancient and alien. They blur the boundary between known and unknown. It is the hidden, undecipherable aspect that makes Kulkarni’s forms enigmatic and ever-renewing. Acquired familiarity with his works allow his forms to become substrates for the imagination to populate with narrative.
K. S. Kulkarni was at the vanguard of Indian Modernism globally – a true forerunner – with international solos in New York (1951, 69-72, 95), Tokyo (1958), Cairo (1958), Zurich (1959), Mexico (1958), Washington D.C. (1957, 58, 71), Honolulu (1958), and San Francisco (1958). He had also participated in group shows in London (1947), Mexico (1959), Zurich (1959), Japan (1959), Brazil (1959), USSR (1963), and travelling shows through Germany (1959) and Australia (1965). Kulkarni as such was one of the few Indian Modernists who personally witnessed the global post-war zeitgeist, and at a time preceding the maturation of artistic movements – like Abstract Expressionism – that developed in response to the war.
Pre-war movements, including Bauhaus, Cubism, and Surrealism, were not the only sources of inspiration for Kulkarni. His travels through Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Brazil put him in contact with the Mayan and Inca civilizations, which were to become an influence in his work. At the same time, he was deeply moved by India’s ancient aesthetics, with particular interest in the caves at Ajanta and Ellora, as well as Khajuraho and Chola temples. This fascination was first evidenced by an exhibition of drawings based on his experiences of Khajuraho in 1958 at Kumar Gallery. The present exhibition brings into focus the full maturation of Kulkarni’s use of line through drawings predominantly from the 80s. It offers viewers the opportunity to engage directly with Kulkarni’s lifelong playful exploration into the plastic potential of line and contour.
K. S. Kulkarni was at the vanguard of Indian Modernism globally – a true forerunner – with international solos in New York (1951, 69-72, 95), Tokyo (1958), Cairo (1958), Zurich (1959), Mexico (1958), Washington D.C. (1957, 58, 71), Honolulu (1958), and San Francisco (1958). He had also participated in group shows in London (1947), Mexico (1959), Zurich (1959), Japan (1959), Brazil (1959), USSR (1963), and travelling shows through Germany (1959) and Australia (1965). Kulkarni as such was one of the few Indian Modernists who personally witnessed the global post-war zeitgeist, and at a time preceding the maturation of artistic movements – like Abstract Expressionism – that developed in response to the war.
Pre-war movements, including Bauhaus, Cubism, and Surrealism, were not the only sources of inspiration for Kulkarni. His travels through Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Brazil put him in contact with the Mayan and Inca civilizations, which were to become an influence in his work. At the same time, he was deeply moved by India’s ancient aesthetics, with particular interest in the caves at Ajanta and Ellora, as well as Khajuraho and Chola temples. This fascination was first evidenced by an exhibition of drawings based on his experiences of Khajuraho in 1958 at Kumar Gallery. The present exhibition brings into focus the full maturation of Kulkarni’s use of line through drawings predominantly from the 80s. It offers viewers the opportunity to engage directly with Kulkarni’s lifelong playful exploration into the plastic potential of line and contour.
