"As with the bulk of Aji VN's previous ous work, the images comprising New Works also display the same minute attention to detail and subtlety of shade and shadow that makes it difficult to believe that the medium is charcoal on paper. It could be ink or pencil perhaps, considering how fine and delicate the lines are, especially in the "Homeland" series.
These landscape drawings may be influenced by VN's move from India to the Netherlands, and are rendered in what seems to be a homage to the landscape work of the Flemish masters. They are wistful in nature Some, like "Homeland#3" and "Homeland#4" are lost behind a fine," …….
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Grant Watson
I met Aji in the café at MuHKA where we sat and drank coffee while he took me through his most recent drawings for the upcoming exhibition at Nature Morte in New Delhi and Mirchandani + Steinruecke in Mumbai. The images were highly articulated and condensed so that later, even when I printed them out from my computer in black and white to use as reference for this text, they maintained their compositional integrity. Before discussing his work though, I was interested to hear about his background and his experience as an artist from Kerala now based in Rotterdam and how these two distinctly different places – two which I also had some connection with – played into his work.
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A Versatile Mind, Proficient over Boundaries of Place and Time:
The drawings of Aji V.N.
Wilma Sütö
Various worlds shimmer in the drawings of Aji V.N. Landscapes of distant continents converge here, with an enchanting mixture of cultural-historical singularities. A versatile mind reigns over this domain, transporting us beyond boundaries of place and time. He is subtle, this guide; how could we ever move so lightly without him?
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Born 1968 in Kerala
B.F.A., College of Fine Arts, Trivandrum
M.F.A., College of Art, New Delhi
Grants
2001/02 Werkbeurs, Foundation for Visual Arts, The Netherlands
2003 Basisstipendium, Foundation for Visual Arts, The Netherlands
Solo Exhibitions
2009 Nature Morte, New Delhi and Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai
2007 Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai
2000 Foundation for Indian Artists/Galerie Schoo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Also 1995 and 1998)
Participations (a selection)
2009 La Double Image de Arcimboldo a Dali. Curated by Jean-Hubert Martin at
Grand Palais, Paris (upcoming)
2008 13th Art Forum Berlin, together with Jyothi Basu and Ratheesh T., presented by Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
2008 Verloren Paradijs, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, The Netherlands
2008 Affair curated by Bose Krishnamachari for 1x1 Gallery, Dubai
2007 Drawing Typologies, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
2006 Four by Four, Kashi Art Gallery, Kochi, Kerala
2005 The Artist Lives and Works, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2005 Double-Enders curated by Bose Krishnamachari at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2004 Arte termita contra Elefante Blanco – Comportamientos Actuales del Dibujo, ICO Museum, Madrid
2004 The Sacrifice – an intimate I – works from the collection of Henri Swagemakers, Museum de Beyerd, Breda, The Netherlands
Aji V.N. lives in Rotterdam.