Born 1975, Paramakudi, India, now lives and works from a village “Kaduguppattu” near Chennai, Tamil nadu
N.Ramachandran’s visual idiom speaks to me because of its unusually rich ability to comprehend space as an undifferentiated whole.There is an elemental sense of effortless play in the manner in which he is able to dive into space at any point and pick out morphological elements that assert the invariable nature of the space continuum.Our retinal intelligence, engineered since birth, indoctrinates us to the boundaries of both form and meaning. The act of cognition becomes an act of articulation. The act of language, in turn becomes an act of formal segregation of the cognizable world of forms and their meanings. The sensual and the spiritual – thus articulated – become like two opposing axes of a graph when, in fact, they remain indivisible in the body and in space.It is this truth of indivisibility that Ramachandran is able to render with remarkable skill and variation. There is a deliberate singularity in his concept of space, which sees it as both internal and external at the same time. It thus fulfills the idea of ontological ‘difference’ by consciously traveling from ‘the same to the same’, as Mario Perniola might say.The old dichotomies and oppositions become relevant. Is art about the celebration of appearance or about the experience of reality? For Ramachandran, it seems to be about the experience and articulation of surprise at the systemic connectedness of all things spatial.In a morphologically prolix universe, no two leaves or clouds or fingerprints are alike. Yet, the flapping of the butterfly’s wing is connected to the storm it stirs up on another side of the globe. Space remains unitary.With every meditative move of his imagination, Ramachandran celebrates the memory of that deep truth.
Excerpt from -MORPHOLOGY OF MEDITATIVE MEANINGS By Sadanand Menon
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
2008-9 B.A (Hons.) in Glass - Edinburgh college of Art, Edinburgh.
2006 Photopolymer Etching, Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh.
2005 Care of museum objects, Chennai Museum laboratory, Chennai.
1999 Master of Fine Arts,(M.F.A), Govt. College of Fine Arts, Madras University, Chennai.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
2011 Audi Ritz icon Award, Chennai.
2008-09 Charles Wallace India trust Award. Visiting Scholar to UK.
2008 National Academy Award for 50th National exhibition of Art, Lalit Kala Academy.
2006 Edinburgh Printmakers Visiting Artist Award, Scotland.
2002 – 2003 Junior Fellowship – Indian Department of Tourism & Culture.
2000-2001 LalitKala Academy Scholarship for Young Artist, India.
2000 Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu, one man show Grant, Tamil Nadu, India.
1998 Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu award, Chennai.
Selected shows
Solo shows
2014 “@/cropped/no U-turn”-Apparao art Gallery, Cennai
2011 Aman Hotel, Delhi – Apparao art Gallery
2009-10 ‘Sun and the Moon’ a travel show at Delhi-Triveni art gallery and Chennai, Apparao art gallery. And Apparao art gallery, Bangalore,
2008 ‘resonance’ a travel show at Delhi-Sridharani art gallery and Chennai,Apparao art gallery.
2007 ‘Mfd: may 07’- at Museum art gallery, Mumbai.
2007 ‘zero degree celcius’- a travel show at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, and Apparao Art gallery, Chennai.
2006 ‘existence’-at Triveni Kala Sangam , Apparao Art gallery, New Delhi.
2005 ‘existence’-at Alliance Française of Madras, Chennai.
Group Shows
2017 ‘Dvaita’ -Curated by Neena Naishadh, Kanoria centre for arts, Ahmedabad
2015 ‘NH 7+ 47:Southern Sojourn’, Art*ry Art Gallery Dubai/UAE curated by Mukta Ahluwalia Bedi
2014 “24/7/365”, Apparao art Gallery, Leela Palace-Chennai
2015-09, India Art Fair, Apparao art gallery, New Delhi.
2013 Reginonal Art Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai.
2011 "Emerging Idioms"-Shridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi and Apparao art gallery,Chennai
2011 Urban Visualities, International seminar and show, Dakshina Chitra, Chennai.
2010 Silver Anniversary show, Association of British Scholars, Chennai.
2007 ‘Dilating Path’, an Indo - French collaborative show, Apparao art gallery, Chennai.
2006 ‘As Others See Us’-Society of Scottish Artists, Edinburgh, Scotland.
2003 “Reclaimed” A parallel show organized by British Council at Forum Art Gallery, Chennai .
2000, 01, 04, 06, 08 National Exhibition of Art, Lalit Kala Academi.
1997, 99, 2000, 01 Adogi International Exhibition of Miniprints, Spain.
Residencies and workshops
2011 Urban Visualities, International seminar and show, Dakshina Chitra, Chennai.
2008 mansoon artists’ workshop organized by apparao gallery, chochin.
2007 All India artists’ camp organized by LKA, Lonavla.
2006 Edinburgh mela- intercontinental art camp, Edinburgh printmakers. Scotland
2003 Interactive camp with Traditional papier-Mâché Artist and contemporary Artist organized by Silparamam- and L.K.A, Hyderabad.
2003 Traditional Kerala Mural painting workshop by N.F.S.C & G.C.A.C. Chennai.
2002 Traditional & Folk painters camp, for children book Illustration organized by N.B.T& Dastkari Haat Samiti.
2000 Workshop in Print making conducted by Mr. Paul Coldwell at L.K.A. Chennai.
1997 Young artist advanced lithography camp at Lalit Kala Academi, Chennai.
Works in collection
Public and Private Collections in India, Pakistan, UK, Japan, Dubai, Malaysia, Spain, Austria, Canada, and USA.
Areas of Intrest: Photography