Alwar Balasubramaniam (, , born 1971), known professionally as Bala, is an Indian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Biography

Alwar Balasubramaniam was born in 1971, in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. In 1995, Bala graduated from

Government College of Fine Arts A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

with a specialism in

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

. Bala continued his studies at the

Edinburgh Printmakers Edinburgh Printmakers is a printmaking studio and gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has played a key role in the careers of Alan Davie, John Bellany, Carol Rhodes and Kate Downie. History Edinburgh Printmakers was established in 1967, Britai ...

and the

University of Applied Arts Vienna The University of Applied Arts Vienna (, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university status since 1970. History The predecessor of the ...

. From 1998 – 2015 Bala lived and worked in

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. As of 2015, Bala lives and works in his ancestral village outside of

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

, Tamil Nadu.

Career

Bala is known for embedding sculptures in walls. Bala's work centers on the human body and the bodies interaction with the material environment and intangible elements such as light, air, and shadow. In 1998, Bala was an

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

at the then

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The program was founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDo ...

, and worked in the Putnam

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

studio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balasubramaniam, A. Artists from Bengaluru Living people 1971 births Indian contemporary painters Indian installation artists Indian contemporary sculptors 21st-century Indian sculptors