JULY 18 – AUG 30

AUG 7, 6–7:30pm
DAVID SERVOSS, Descendant, performance

RAVINDER REDDY, sculpture
DAVID SERVOSS, performance installation remains
VON KOMMANIVANH, painting

Chicago, Illinois: Ravinder Reddy: One of India’s foremost contemporary sculptors will exhibit his works at Walsh Gallery from May 2 – August 30.

Mr. Reddy chooses as his subjects contemporary Indian women, whom he transforms through sculpture into a kind of semi–deity, figures at once larger than life and unpretentious, both distant and approachable. He uses unabashed frontal nudity and directness of gaze to create a confident sensuality in these everyday goddesses. Mr. Reddy’s series of heads have less to do with stereotypical ideas of beauty, and more to do with an ageless celebration of a woman’s endurance and fecundity. His sculptures refer to a variety of influences ranging from Egyptian and Greek sculpture to religious kitsch items found in Indian street culture. He is a master of blurring the distinctions between reality and fantasy.

In an October 2001 New York Times review Holland Cotter called Mr. Reddy’s work “A heroic art with a common touch: kitsch for the ages.”

Mr. Reddy’s sculptures are first formed as small clay models, which are then used to make plaster molds for the finished polyester resin fiberglass piece. The sculptures are finished with a combination of car paint and gold or copper leaf. Mr. Reddy’s choice of materials at once reaffirms his connection to traditional Indian sculptural techniques while using entirely modern resources.

Mr. Reddy was born in India in 1956. After graduating from M.S. University, Baroda, in 1982, Reddy spent 1983–84 in London at the Goldsmith College of Art and Royal College of Art. He lives and works in Andhra Pradesh state, near Visakaputnam, in southeastern India.

His work has been included in important exhibitions in Asia, Europe and Australia. In 1996 he was in the influential “Traditions/Tensions” exhibition at the Asia Society in New York. In 2001 the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh held a solo exhibition of his work. His work has been collected by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institution, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Queensland Art Gallery. His work has been included in important exhibitions in Asia, Europe and Australia. In 1996 he was in the influential “Traditions/Tensions” exhibition at the Asia Society in New York. In 2001 the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh held a solo exhibition of his work. His work has been collected by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institution, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Queensland Art Gallery.

In addition, Walsh gallery will have on exhibit Salon 2003. This exhibition will bring to light Contemporary Asian painting, prints, and photography that have been tucked away in our back storage room.

On August 7 from 6–7:30 pm, David Servoss will perform a personal process piece. Prior to the performance, Mr. Servoss will insert sculptural representations of James Monroe and Yuan Shi Kai’s presidential uniforms into the gallery’s wall. Mr. Servoss is related to both these presidents.

During his performance, Mr. Servoss will pull out the sculptures and carefully place the contents into crates. He will use the debris of the drywall to construct a structure linking the two crates in a pyramid form. There will be an accompanying video of the installation of the sculptures.