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Veer Munshi
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"I remember trying desperately to make pretty paintings to sell as I needed the money. But they just wouldn`t come. Then I made a painting `Terrorist on a Floating Land,` and began a two-year long series on Kashmir."
An artist like Veer Munshi is one of the few painters in India today who is able to transform his experiences as an exiled refugee into the language of painting. Munshi was born and brought up in the Kashmir valley, but...
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"I remember trying desperately to make pretty paintings to sell as I needed the money. But they just wouldn`t come. Then I made a painting `Terrorist on a Floating Land,` and began a two-year long series on Kashmir."
An artist like Veer Munshi is one of the few painters in India today who is able to transform his experiences as an exiled refugee into the language of painting. Munshi was born and brought up in the Kashmir valley, but was forced to move to Delhi in 1990 when it was no longer safe for him to stay there.
For Munshi, viewing pleasure plays no role in his objective as an artist. His work is very personal and at most times disturbing. It is his reaction to a specific event - in this case, the ongoing political situation in his home, Kashmir - and he wants everyone who views his work to understand what is happening there. Rather than leaving viewers with a light hearted happy feeling, Munshi wants his works to cause reflection and spread awareness. He is a painter with a clearly defined course In Veer Munshi`s paintings we see a reflection of the anguish and fear he felt whilst living in his own home, a fear that plagued so many other Kashmiris as well. Munshi was forced to give up his home and heritage, and witness how men he once knew turned into vicious, killing animals - a theme often recurring in his large canvases.
In Munshi`s paintings we also see the artist`s bitterness upon seeing a once beautiful valley ravaged by men intent on nothing but their own gain in the name of patriotism. This farce is reflected in Munshi`s ability to telescope images of pain and hatred over those of the Kashmir that was. Beautiful houseboats lie overturned and neglected in the Dal Lake and the flowers in the Shalimar Garden are trampled and dying. The artist also manages to manipulate the colour he uses to suit the message of his paintings. Reds, oranges and greens, otherwise warm and inviting, are given harsh and dark roles. His purples are potent and the shades of brown always cloak and muddy everything.
His figures however seem to mirror a different emotion. One of giving up. Their eyes are often hollow or blank and they bend and bow subserviently to captors like vultures that prey over them. One figure that occurs quite often in his work is that of the puppet master. A person who pulls the strings and controls all the others, manipulating the future of the valley. He stands in demolished doorways and the remains of arches, observing the havoc he has played. Fascinatingly, the figure of the puppet master resembles that of Munshi himself.
Today, eleven years later, the immediacy has disappeared from Munshi`s work. The problem, rather than fading away, has intensified and the artist has moved from a loud activism to a quiet acceptance and deeper understanding of the fate of his homeland. He says, "Today I view Kashmir alternatively - as a nostalgic memory and as a problem."
This was reflected in the installation Munshi put up in 2001 - an upturned market boat, the symbol of Kashmiri living, was transformed into a coffin, and ten pictures of the artist on its sides were labeled secessionist, refugee, displaced, fundamentalist and other things Kashmiris were called.
Munshi`s canvases present images that are intriguing. They cross average notions of reality and pass into a surreal realm. He works in oils and sometimes sketches in charcoal. In 1999 he led the team of designers of the Jammu and Kashmir tableau that won the first prize in the annual republic day parade.
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Born
1955
Srinagar, Kashmir
Education
1981 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
1977-88 Established Silk-Screen Workshop and Worked as an Expert in Printing at the Garhi Studios, New Delhi
1975-77 Visiting Lecturer at the College of Art, New Delhi
1976 Bachelor of Arts, Kashmir University
1958-63 Studied at the School of Art, Delhi Polytechnic, New Delhi
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015 'Kashmir: Insider', Sakshi Art...
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2015 'Kashmir: Insider', Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai
2012 'Shrapnel: The Chamber + Pandit Houses', Lattitude 28, New Delhi
2009 'Shrapnel: The Chamber + Pandit Houses', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2008 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006 Art Alive Gallery at India Habitat Center, New Delhi
2004 Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2004 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2003 Gallery Espace, New Delhi
1997 E C Galleria, Edinburgh, Scotland
1996 Gallery, Burswood, Perth, Australia
1996 United Nations, Geneva, Australia
1995 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1995 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
1992 Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014 'Sacred / Scared', Latitude 28 Gallery, New Delhi
2012 'The Needle on the Gauge', presented by Adelaide Festival Centre and the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia at Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA), Adelaide
2012 'On A Journey', Art Alive Gallery, Gurgaon
2011-12 'Back to School: Baroda 1979-89', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2011 'Melange', The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata
2011 'Back to School: Baroda 1979-89', Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
2010 'Snow', The Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi in collaboration with Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2010 'Symbols and Metaphors', Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
2010 '1.2.3.4.5...In the Line of Fire', Lemongrasshopper, Ahmedabad
2009 'Zip Files', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2008 'Faces', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2008 'Keep Drawing', Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2008 'Metropolis and the Self', Art Alive, New Delhi
2005 ‘Exploring New Paradigms’, Art Alive, New Delhi
2005 'Papyri', Sarjan Gallery, Vadodara
2004 ‘Looking Back Looking Forward’, Contemporary Works of Baroda Artist, Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara
2002 ‘Ways of Resistance’, organized by Sahmat, Ravindra Bhavan, New Delhi
2001 All India Painters Art Show and Auction, Dubai organized by CRY
1995 ‘Gandhi’, organized by Sahmat Traveling Show, New Delhi, Mumbai
1993 ‘Trembling Images of Kashmir’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
Participations
2012 'Art for Humanity', Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai
2010 'Evolve: 10th Anniversary Show', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2009 'Expressions at Tihar', Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi
2007 'On The Edge of Vision: New Idioms In Indian and Italian Contemporary Art', organized by the Italian Cultural Institute in New Delhi in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata and National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai and New Delhi
2006 Presentation of Works, World Social Forum, Karachi, Pakistan
2004 11th Asians Art Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2003 India-Korea Contemporary Art Exhibition, Kwang Hwa Moon Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1990 IV Biennale, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Honours and Awards
2002 National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2001 Jammu and Kashmir Award for Painting
1996-98 Junior Fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Government of India
1991-92 Research Grant Fellowship from Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2002 National Award, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2001 Jammu and Kashmir Award for Painting
1996-98 Junior Fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Government of India
1991-92 Research Grant Fellowship from Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
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PAST StoryLTD AUCTIONS
Showing
4
of
4
works
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Lot 48
Details
Absolute Tuesdays
8 February 2022
Charlie at...
Acrylic on canvas
47.5 x 35 in
Winning bid
$1,802
Rs 1,31,520
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 43
Details
YEAR END SALE
21 December 2021
Paribortan
Acrylic on canvas
47.25 x 47.25 in
Winning bid
$2,395
Rs 1,74,870
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 20
Details
FIAE Fundraiser Auction
10 November 2020
Wanderer in...
Acrylic and digital print on canvas
20 x 24 in
Winning bid
$625
Rs 45,313
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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EXHIBITIONS
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