YOU ARE ALL CAUGHT UP

Sameer Kulavoor’s new solo at TARQ is made up of a series of paintings and drawings that are an expression of the artist's understanding of the tumultuous historical moment that we are currently experiencing. In this show, Kulavoor continues to be fascinated with Social Media, and looks deeply at ideas of the personal and political through the ubiquitous blue screen.

While the artist has in some ways continued his unique observations of urban spaces –the landscape he is intimately familiar with–he now looks at these regular haunts through the lens of the growing pandemic. In this, he grows curiouser and curiouser as to how and why people adapt to the times by consuming content that is now readily available at your fingertips, and oftentimes, leads to an information overload. In many ways, his works are a documentation of life not only in an urban metropolis but the restless mental state of living through a time of political turmoil. As a sign of the times, it is not uncommon to find the omnipresent cell phone in several works, serving to alienate, entertain and often, make the private, public. Kulavoor continues to question and dissect how humanity, as a whole, is adapting to and fighting against these unchartered territories seeking change. 

About the Artist
Sameer Kulavoor (b.1983) is a visual artist living and working in Mumbai, India. His work lies at the intersection of art, graphic design & contemporary illustration and has taken the form of paintings, murals, books, zines, prints and objects. He is interested in why things look the way they do; constantly exploring and understanding the impact that time, culture, politics and socio-economic conditions have on our visible and invisible surroundings. In this age of visual overload, his work involves filtering, dissecting, documenting and de-familiarizing commonly seen subjects through the act of drawing, painting and design. 

Some of the zines he has produced include Sidewalks & Coffeeshops (2009), Zeroxwallah Zine (2011), The Ghoda Cycle Project (poster-book, 2012), Blued (book/zine, 2013) and Oh Flip (flipbooks, 2013). He exhibited The Ghoda Cycle Project at WDC Helsinki in 2012 and in Mumbai in 2013 while also collaborating with Paul Smith on a series of Ghoda Cycle Tee-shirt designs which were released worldwide. He presented select sketchbook drawings from between 2012 and 2016 as large serigraphs at Artisans', Kalaghoda, in a show titled 'Please Have A Seat' (2016). He has been working on a number of large-scale public art projects and paintings which are on view in Auckland (New Zealand), Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Chennai. ‘A Man of the Crowd’ (2018) was Kulavoor’s first solo presentation at TARQ. Two of his new works were showcased at the TARQ booth group show at India Art Fair in 2019. Most recently, his drawings and paintings were part of ‘The Shifting City’ - Mumbai pavilion of ‘Making Heimat - Arrival City’ at the Goethe Institut Max Mueller Bhavan curated by Kaiwan Mehta. 

Kulavoor was the founder of Bombay Duck Designs which is presently directed by graphic artist + urdu/arabic typography specialist, Zeenat Kulavoor. Along with artist/designer Lokesh Karekar (Locopopo), Kulavoor also founded and curated six issues of 100%ZINE (currently on hiatus) – a visual arts magazine that discovers and showcases a wide range of visual art talent from India and abroad.

Image Courtesy: Sameer Kulavoor and TARQ
Copyright: Copyright Sameer Kulavoor, 2020