Concordia College Kicks Off Inaugural International Artist Residency and Exhibition Featuring South Indian Neo-Realism Art
May 25, 2011: On Wednesday, May 25 (today), the OSilas Gallery at Concordia College will open its first-ever International Artist Residency and Exhibition. The exhibition features paintings by four exceptional South Indian artists, accompanied by a professor of art history, who have traveled from Chennai, India, to New York for a three-week cultural exchange program.
The residency will culminate in a reception and show in the OSilas Gallery on Thursday, June 9, at 7:00 pm.
The four Chennai-based artists selected for the program are A. Z. Ranjit, S. Sivabalan, S. Elayaraja, and N. S. Manohar. Their styles are quite distinct, but they are all neo-realist painters, drawing inspiration from the people and landscapes of South India.
According to art historian Dr. Ashrafi Bhagat, tradition remains at the heart of their works: "The daily life lived with its varied rituals; the celebration of festivals, the traditional domestic architecture with red-tiled sloping roofs and open courtyards and the temples around which social life revolves gets internalized and makes an appearance in their works." For a sampling of their works, please visit artist.concordia-ny.edu.
The four artists hold advanced degrees in fine arts from the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai or the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kumbakonam, both in the southern region of Tamil Nadu. Works by Ranjit and Manohar are in the collection of India's National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, and all these artists have exhibited frequently in Indian cities as well as in Singapore, Malaysia, and other Asian and Middle Eastern centers.
The event is free and open to the public, and reservations are not required. There is free parking on the Concordia College campus. The OSilas Gallery is located in the Donald A. Krenz Academic Center on the second level of Scheele Memorial Library.
For further information, including program details and artist information, visit www.osilasgallery.org. For questions, contact Patricia Miranda, director of the OSilas Gallery, at
