Akbar Padamsee- Lines of Distinction, Strokes of Genius

www.tamarindart.com
Contact: Rosanne Bergeron
Tel: 212-990-9000
E-mail: rbergeron@tamarindart.com

PRESS RELEASE: For immediate release 9/18/06

Akbar Padamsee- Lines of Distinction, Strokes of Genius

New York, New York – September 18, 2006- TamarindArt Gallery, located at 142 East 39th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenue, is pleased to announce a show of legendary Indian artist Akbar Padamsee.

Opening Reception - Wednesday, September 20, 2006 from 5:30 to 8:30pm

Exhibition - September 20th through November 4, 2006

Akbar Padamsee is a commanding presence in the Indian modern art movement. His imaginative work spanning over six decades is replete with abstract landscapes and figures splendid in their alienation and solitude. It is his treatment of the human form, which conveys both pain and tenderness, which makes his art visually stunning and intellectually provocative.

“Padamsee’s devoted attention to form, volume, space and color makes his works both real and transcendent. It will be an honor to host a show of one of the most ground-breaking artists of our time,” said gallery owner Mr. Kent Charugundla. The exhibition will feature works of pencil on paper, charcoal on paper, and watercolors.

Akbar Padamsee studied at the famous J.J. School of Art. In the 1940s, he and fellow painters from the Progressive Artists’ Group were determined to “invent modernism for India”. To achieve this, they rejected the culture’s artistic traditions and looked to the contemporary art of Paris for inspiration, where Padamsee lived from 1951 to 1967. Throughout his long and successful career, he has received a number of prestigious awards and honors including The Rockefeller Fund Fellowship in 1965, the Nehru Fellowship in 1969-70, and the Kalidas Samman by the Medhya Pradesh Government for the years 1997-98. Padamsee has also been invited to participate in a number of notable shows, including two Venice Biennales and the Tokyo Biennale in 1959. The artist currently lives and works in Mumbai.

About TamarindArt:
TamarindArt is open to the public as a museum-gallery. Inaugurated in 2003 by celebrated contemporary Indian artist M.F. Husain, it is owned by prominent collectors Mr. and Mrs. Kent and Marguerite Charugundlas. TamarindArt Gallery’s main focus is to introduce Indian contemporary art to a larger audience and to create a platform for intellectual dialogue between senior and younger artists. It has become one of the foremost centers for contemporary Indian art in the United States, with the collective experience of over fifty years. Since its opening, the Charugundlas’ have held numerous private exhibitions, including the works of renowned Indian artists M. F. Husain, F.N. Souza, Ram Kumar, S. H. Raza, Vasudev S. Gaitonde, and Bal Chhabda, whose work was shown in New York for the very first time.

Gallery hours are 11am to 6:00pm, Tuesday through Friday, noon to 6:00pm on Saturdays.
For more information about the show, call 212-990-9000 or visit their web site at
www.tamarindart.com