THE SONG OF small THINGS
K S R AD HAK R I S H N AN
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THE SONG OF small THINGS
K S R AD HAK R I S H N AN
First published in India 2018 in conjunction with the exhibition, Photography
‘song of small things’ organized by Art Musings in October 2018. Jawahar Roy
All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. Samiran Nandi
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form Gireesh GV
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, Mallikarjun Katakol
recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, KS Radhakrishnan
without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Text © Authors Design Consultant
Miti Desai
Photographs © KS Radhakrishnan
Design
Sculptures © KS Radhakrishnan Shaiju Augustine
Copyright of all the works reproduced rest with collectors/collections Front Cover
A spiraling recall | 2018 | Bronze | 20 x 16 x 26 inches
Printed at Kolor Kode, Bengaluru
Art Musings
1 Admiralty Building,
Colaba Cross Lane, Mumbai - 400 005
Tel: + 91-22-22163339 | 22-22186071
E-mail: [email protected] | [email protected]
www.artmusings.net
THE SONG OF small THINGS
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KS Radhakrishnan at his Studio, New Delhi
Once characters are given birth to,
they take a life of their own and their creators are no more the absolute
arbitrators of their destiny...
R. Siva Kumar
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Musui and Maiya are part alter egos of the sculptor, and part fictional
characters through whom Radhakrishnan has been exploring the world
and sharing his perceptions with us with the assumed detachment
of a third person narrative. Musui is modeled after a santhal youth
he had known long years ago as a student in Santiniketan, but in
Radhakrishnan’s recent sculptures, he appears not as a particular
person but as metaphor of mind’s lightness, of its ability to assume a
multiplicity of persona or identities. Maiya is his female counterpart,
and one of the many ‘others; he morphs into. Musui and Maiya are
look-alikes divided by gender, and by mirroring each other and by
metamorphosing into an endless series of ‘others’, like children
playing roles, they mock our sense of immutable identity and make us
recognize the sameness encrypted into differences.
Prof. R. Siva Kumar,
Dept. of art history Viswabharati University, Santiniketan
3Tapasyi Tarangini | 2018 | Bronze | 65 x 29.5 x 19.5 inches
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Human box | 2015 | Bronze | 12 x 10.5 x 13.5 inches
In some of the more recent works that have grown out of Human Boxes,
the small migrant figures have become even smaller, even more
insignificant. Hundreds and thousands of them are welded together
to produce not a palpable form but a fine texture. They sometimes
wrap a figure or an object, for instance a head of Musui or a lantern.
In the Musui piece, the smiling buffed head rests in the middle of a
bevy of swarming figures, like a happy child nestled in the comfort of
a mother’s arm. In others they rise or descend like a swarm of winged
termites, or hover in space like a massive murmuring of starlings
weaving the most fascinating patterns against the sky. These shifts
of vision and the varied metaphors his sculptures evoke make him a
sculptor of hope—one who wraps the world in memories and dreams,
and measures the earth and the sky with figures cast in bronze, while
awakening a keen sense of seeing and feeling in us who view them.
Prof. R. Siva Kumar,
Dept. of art history Viswabharati University, Santiniketan
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Into the void - 1 | 2015 | Bronze | 15 x 14 x 22 inches
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In to hallowed light | 2018 | Bronze | 16 x 10 x 22 inches
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Rising in the mist | 2018 | Bronze | 13 x 12 x 23 inches
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Twisted output-tu | 2018 | Bronze | 14 x 13 x 23 inches
The song of small things
Moments in our fading past remain like a watermark beneath the reality
of the present, barely noticed in our rush-hour traffic of humanity, and yet
indelible. To re-live a time that defines our formative history isn’t about
plucking dandelions all over again from the wilderness and blowing
them into the magical light of the dusk. The song of small things,
created by sculptor K.S. Radhakrishnan, guards rare sentiments with
tender care to remind us that the simplicity of childhood cannot be
dismissed as a brittle page of an old diary as we strive to shape our
dreams. Relocating such memories to another time using any form
is not easy but the sculptor and his works sing forgotten ditties about
things we did, things we loved and things that are extinct, with rare
felicity. Capturing these experiences in intricate, sculpted forms, one
as diverse as another but tethered to a common craving for memories,
is a balance that we often fail to maintain between remembrances and
reality. The exquisitely crafted compositions and the exceptionally
canny use of free space are manifest emotions of a thinking mind that
is painting pictures of the unheard and the unsaid.
The works featured in this exposition do not abandon themselves
to any particular mind-set and yet they are mindful, like breathing
subconsciously in peopled space. The characters of the compositions
are undefined but nimble in their human movement and strung together
in their common spirit of joy. Stemming from bases made of things
that were used everyday a long time ago, these sculptures grow like
feelings, touching off sentiments that we all want to re-visit. Each twist,
each bend, and each formation is a story in itself, abounding in sheer
exuberance. The creator did not have a blueprint for these works. He
shaped them with the blues of childhood that kept invading his senses
every time he set out to build on memories. The child in him has truly
shown the way. One thing is evident from his works – childhood has
no history because childhood itself is part of every human’s history.
Amrita Nilanjana, Freelance writer
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An undulating ascent | 2018 | Bronze | 20 x 13.5 x 27 inches
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Maiya with the flow - 1 | 2017 | Bronze | 17 x 11.5 x 28 inches
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Imps or impish figures are pivotal in Radhakrishnan’s works on several
counts. Imps are the playful demons seen abundantly in the folklore
of any land. They are lesser gods, ready to help a human friend and
are all prepared to disturb enemies through mischievous acts. They
could be called lesser gods (but they never aspire to become gods)
and they are small in physical stature. They can assume any form or
shape and play active roles in the imaginative lives of human beings.
Radhakrishnan, inspired by the folklore of his native state Kerala found
the possibilities of camouflaging the artistic subjectivity in the form of
imps. Impish figures, for the artist, hence became the containers of
multiple subjectivities, of the artist himself as well as those of any
other characters. The Imp Series of the mid 1990s present diminutive
figures with smiles on their faces engaged in different activities, while
assuming even the shapes of actual ‘containers’.
JohnyML, Independent curator, writer
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Flow from the fall | 2017 | Bronze | 21 x 13 x 7 inches
Imp (Musui) on the portal (detail)
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A spiraling recall | 2018 | Bronze | 20 x 16 x 26 inches
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Invoking warmth | 2016 | Bronze | 16 x 13 x 23 inches
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In his thoughts and works, Radhakrishnan has brilliantly succeeded
in carrying out the onerous task of keeping close proximity with
metaphysics without disturbing the experiences that form the basis of
his art. By the dint of his extra-ordinary faculties, he can effortlessly
turn a spec into an expanse and at the same time retain the exclusivity
of the spec as the font of propagation, or reverse-engineer the process
to return the spec to its primary existence without ruffling the vastness
that surrounds it. This is not to say that his works contradict his
emotions and that he is susceptible to cognitive dissonance although
The Song of Small Things could generate myriad interpretations
because of its deep connection with the past and its simultaneous
rush towards endlessness.
Amrita Nilanjana, Freelance writer
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In to the void - 2 | 2015 | Bronze | 16 x 27 x 13 inches
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Terrafly on the portal | 2015 | Bronze | 18 x 15 x 29 inches
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Imp (Maiya) on the portal | 2015 | Bronze | 17 x 16 x 29 inches
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Lunch box | 2017 | Bronze | 13 x 13 x 12 inches
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Jugalbandhi - smoke & steam | 2018 | Bronze |10 x 21 x 22.5 inches
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Unmeasured quantum (Para) | 2017 | Bronze | 12 x 11.5 x 16 inches
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Press one for... | 2017 | Bronze | 12 x 12 x 14 inches
3Musui Maiya around bursting cloud | 2015 | Bronze | 13.5 x 14 x 22.5 inches
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Song of the idli maker - 1 | 2018 | Bronze | 12 x 12.5 x 25 inches
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Embers of calm | 2017 | Bronze | 16 x 10 x 17 inches
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Tune of the flame | 2017 | Bronze | 14 x 10 x 25 inches
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First flush tea | 2017 | Bronze | 17.5 x 12 x 22 inches 41
Throw back output-tu | 2018 | Bronze | 13.5 x 9.5 x 23.5 inches
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Song of the idli maker - 2 | 2018 | Bronze | 13.5 x 13.5 x 16.5 inches
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Maiya with the flow - 2 | 2016 | Bronze | 18.5 x 14 x 30 inches
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Press 2 for... | 2018 | Bronze | 14 x 11.5 x 13.5 inches
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Human web around lantern | 2015 | Bronze | 18 x 9 x 21 inches
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Rekindled kuppi | 2017 | Bronze | 14 x 15 x 17.5 inches