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Babu Xavier
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Based in Trivandrum, Kerala, Babu Xavier is an artist whose canvases are brought alive with vivid colours and fantastic creatures. His brushes paint on full-blooded reds, vibrant yellows and sparkling blues and greens, creating nearly human figures with some sexual undertones in watercolours that seem to radiate light almost like a prism.
Babu, who was born in 1960, never thought he would grow up to be an artist. In his school and...
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Based in Trivandrum, Kerala, Babu Xavier is an artist whose canvases are brought alive with vivid colours and fantastic creatures. His brushes paint on full-blooded reds, vibrant yellows and sparkling blues and greens, creating nearly human figures with some sexual undertones in watercolours that seem to radiate light almost like a prism.
Babu, who was born in 1960, never thought he would grow up to be an artist. In his school and early college days, he claims he couldn`t even manage a respectable drawing in any of his science journals. It was only when he was in university, and was sitting scribbling on a newspaper in the library one day, that Babu Xavier realized he could and wanted to paint. Still, Xavier decided that art school wasn`t the place for him. He didn`t want to be restricted by rules and years of learning things he wouldn`t want to use anyway. He believed that his inspirations and methods would be affected and restrained by a formal schooling in fine arts. It was only by chance that Babu ran into the famous artist Jayapal Panicker, also from Kerala originally. Panicker left such a lasting impression on Xavier, that he withdrew from college in his final year to join him at the Cholamandal Art Colony in Madras and work under his guidance for a while.
When he returned from there, Xavier made a living in Kerala by selling small, photograph-sized canvases. His big break came when a holidaying bank manager bought some of his work and took it back to Mumbai with him. There, the eminent cartoonist Mario Miranda saw the paintings and got in touch with the artist to tell him he should come to Mumbai.
Soon Xavier was showing his work at the Pundole Art Gallery, and the response left him quite amazed. The reviews his work received and the amount of them that sold encouraged him to continue painting and exhibiting. Gallery owners didn`t hesitate in pledging financial support to this artist, who was soon becoming one of India`s most well known contemporary artists. 19 solo shows in India and all over Europe down the line, and being the recipient of several prestigious awards, Xavier is as unassuming an individual anyone could imagine. He spends all day with his family, none of whom are artists, and paints only at night.
But when it comes to his work, he is quite firm about his intentions. "I don`t make art to decorate houses and match people`s walls. There`s a lot of contradiction in my paintings, which can be very disturbing. If I talk about sexuality, there`s also death on the same canvas. Not everyone will like nor understand my art work; they`re not meant to." In his work today, we see, as the artist intends, a deeper meaning. The fantastic figures represent the powerful and lucid ideas Xavier has. Just turning away from his paintings, one glances at the signature, and notices a small set of lines penciled next to it - a barcode. "I draw barcodes on all my paintings.... It reflects contemporary life and shows consumerist trends in 2002, when markets rule our lives."
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Born
1960
Kerala
Education
Self Taught Artist
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009 'Tarot Card Series', Art...
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009 'Tarot Card Series', Art Chamber Gallery, Calangute, Goa
2008 'Organic Dreams', presented by Triveda Art Gallery, Chennai at Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi
2006 ‘Crimson Rhapsody’ Art Musings, Mumbai
2005 Kashi Art Gallery, Fort Cochin, Kerala
2003,04 Hacienda Gallery Mumbai
2002 Kashi Art Café, Kochi
2002,1999,91,85 Pundole Gallery, Mumbai
2001,1999,98 Kashi Art Café, Kochi
1999 Apparao Gallery, Chennai
1998 Holstebro Bibliotec, Denmark
1997 Renaissance Gallery, Bangalore
1997 Lunenburg University, Germany
1997 Cultural Forum, Lunenburg, Germany
1997 Gallerie Ganesha, New Delhi
1995 Chithram Gallery, Kochi
1994 Gallerie Varia, Basel, Switzerland
1994 Chithram Gallery, Kochi
1994 Gallerie Varia, Basel, Switzerland
1991 Sakshi Gallery, Chennai
1991 Kalayatra, Bangalore
1991 Zenit, Copenhagen, Denmark
1991 Gammelgaard Art Centre, Denmark
1984 Kalapeedom, Kochi
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 'Melange', The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata
2010 'Black is Beautiful', India Fine Art, Mumbai
2009 'Sacred and Secular', India Fine Art, Mumbai
2009 'Entity', in association with Asian Academy of Film & Television at M.E.C. Art Gallery, New Delhi
2008 'Deeper Than Skin', DAIRA Centre for Arts and Culture, Hyderabad
1999 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Participations
2009 'Entity', Annual Exh
2011 '50.25.10', presented by Artchutney at The Taj Corridor, The Taj West End, Bangalore
ibition, M.E.C Art Gallery, New Delhi
2008 Annual Show, Triva Contemporary, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
2005 Triennial International Exhibition, New Delhi
1994, 88 Bharat Bhavan Biennale, Bhopal
1985 Sixth International Triennial, New Delhi
Honours and Awards
1990-20th Kerala Lalit Kala Akademy Annual Exhibition
1990-20th Kerala Lalit Kala Akademy Annual Exhibition
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At the first glance your works appear to be playful, but they also convey a much stronger message. So would it be wrong to say that you sugar coat the medicines?
No. not at all
because
I just use it as a clever painterly technique! To attract loving eyes……
In your paintings you create a fantastical world…comment on that please
mmmm……fantasy can be an universal means of...
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At the first glance your works appear to be playful, but they also convey a much stronger message. So would it be wrong to say that you sugar coat the medicines?
No. not at all
because
I just use it as a clever painterly technique! To attract loving eyes……
In your paintings you create a fantastical world…comment on that please
mmmm……fantasy can be an universal means of expression!? A gentle gesture of my intense desire to reach more & more.
You have been painting in the small format for a long time now, but recently you have done some extremely large sized work, can you describe the experience in the change of scale.
Well, now I love this activity of painting; I mean the physical, a lot. I derive lots joy & inner fire out of this scheme. It’s a real magical world for me now & me too do wonder at my present output!!!!
It is always interesting to read your titles…but your works are not narrative…what are your thoughts on that
Again a lovely technique to hold those innocent eyes.!
Theoretically speaking it must’ve something to do with my keralite background where we’ve this heavy dose of literature in every sphere of life.
Then, I love this contradictions it can create!
You have also done paintings for a book did this have any shift in your style of painting
Not exactly.
better say mutually complimenting…..
but this book-work gave me immense confidence for my efforts. In the skill area. See, how to create the mood etc etc….since am a non-academic it was a good practice lesson.
Going back in time, how would you describe your experience at Cholamandal Artist
Colony.
It was ok at that times>>>>>in the early ‘80s
simply because
there was no such art market then.so, it was leisurely,cool & fun at that young ages.
But, I believe, my efforts really flourished or flowered rather more after I left that place.
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