Nature Morte is proud to present an exhibition of paintings by Viswanadhan. Born in Kerala in 1940 and one of the founding members of the Cholamandal Artists’ Village just south of Chennai, Viswanadhan has been based in Paris since 1968. In a career spanning fifty years, he has developed a rigorous practice of abstract painting and developed a distinctive style which continues to evolve. On view will be fourteen paintings spanning twenty-five years (1991 to 2016), all using casein, a paint made from proteins derived from milk. It is casein which gives Viswanadhan’s works their mysterious glow and almost inner source of light. Over the years, his colors as well as his compositions have been continually honed, resulting in painting in its perhaps most purified state. Viswanadhan can be grouped with Indian abstractionists such as Nasreen Mohammedi and S.H. Raza, but also international artists who have developed a programmatic approach to the construction of painting’s subject, such as the Korean Lee Ufan, the Swiss Niele Toroni, and the Frenchman Daniel Buren.

Since his first shows in Chennai and Mumbai in 1966, Viswanadhan has held solo shows of his work at the Galerie de France, Paris (1970), the Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris (1982-2002), the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata (1999), the National Gallery of Modern Art in both New Delhi and Mumbai (1998), Centres Georges Pompidou, Paris (1985), and the Marlborough Gallery, New York (2008), as well as galleries in Germany, USA, Sweden, Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, Denmark, Italy and India. He has made six films which have been screened in festivals in Europe and the Americas and divides his time between Paris and Cholamandal Village, Chennai. His seminal work “Sable” (1976) and the recent “Terres de France” (2015) are now in the collection of the Musee national d’art modern (Centre Pompidou) in Paris. This is his first exhibition with Nature Morte.