An Appetite for life

As a part of its ongoing 50th year celebration, Kumar Gallery pays a tribute to Late Professor K.S.Kulkarni (1916-94) by presenting a selection of his works from 70's and 80's entitled "An Appetite for Life". He was among the first artists the Gallery had introduced to the art world in the 50's. The decades following, witnessed several of his one-man shows held at the Gallery, including a Retrospective in 1969 reflecting different phases of his painting and sculpture.

Born in Belgaum in 1916, Krishna Shamrao Kulkarni studied at the JJ School of Art in Bombay. During the course of a fecund career as an artist he had several one man shows, both in India and abroad. He had participated in international shows in Tokyo, Paris, New York, Venice, Sao Paulo and London. Apart from being a Visiting Professor at Skidmore College in New York, he was Vice-Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, Chairman of the UP Lalit Kala Akademi, and was the Department of Culture's Emeritus Professor.

In 1994 Prof. Kulkarni had enunciated his personal artistic philosophy. "I am one of those individuals who does not want to close my mind or perception from any happening in the world. I am completely open to new influences which brake my falling into any recognisable pattern or style." "...The Indian stream of cultural consciousness transcends mundane events and enters the realm of universalisation of the human experience. The spirit thus remains at the vertex of the Indian art experience, and not the physical body." "...So from very vast dominions, my images wind their way into my art. They are not pre-mediated, nor they are gestural..."

He was known to be creatively prolific throughout his life expressing continuous stream of images that haunted his mind. Works represented here reflect his melodious expression in some, stark and bold in others.

- Virendra Kumar Jain