Interview with sculptor K.S. Radhakrishnan - Part I

K.S. Radhakrishnan is one of the most notable among the new generation of sculptors who has successfully brought about a definitive resurgence in Indian sculpture. Like many of his contemporaries he is a figurative sculptor, but his preference for modelling and bronze casting over new materials sets him apart from the rest of them.

Recharging age-old sculptural processes with a new sensibility, this is the singular challenge he brings to modern Indian sculpture. And this makes him a modernist who approaches his works with a discernable ambition and considerable aplomb while steering clear of brinkmanship.

With celebration of sensuality as one of its running themes, his work is at once both intimate and universal in its appeal. A personal commemorative sculptor, with a scale and presence that holds well in natural settings, his work has found permanent home in a number of public collections all over the world.

This book, exhaustively illustrated with beautifully shot photographs by well-known photographers and accompanied by an insightful text by R. Sivakumar, brings into focus, Radhakrishnan’s work in the last 20 years.

R. Sivakumar is a professor of art history, Viswabharati University, Shantiniketan. He has written extensively on modern Indian art and is best known for his research and publications on artists associated with Santiniketan. His publications include ‘The Shantiniketan Murals, ‘Shantiniketan: the making of a Contextual Modernism’, ‘K.G. Subramanyan: A Retrospective’ and ‘A Ramachandran Retrospective’.