T. Venkanna

Works
Overview
T. Venkanna

Born in 1980, T. Venkanna's powerful and virulent imagery, together with his prodigious output, has gained him the reputation of being his generation's most exciting, versatile, and unconventional artists. He holds a Masters in Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Printmaking from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda and Bachelors in Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Painting from J.N.T.U, Hyderabad where he was awarded a Gold medal.

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T. Venkanna Select Recent Works
Biography
T. Venkanna Portrait

In 2025 Venkanna had his 16th solo show titled Black Blue Yellow, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai.

In 2024, Venkanna had his fifteenth solo show titled Venkanna Drawings 2014-2024 : Part I, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India. He participated in various group shows including Politically Charged at Aicon, New York, USA, Inked Legacies Linked Geographies at Srishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad, India, Siren's Lullaby in a Forgotten Realm at Gallery Dotwalk, Gurgaon, India, Miracle of Absence at Art Exposure, Kolkata, India and at India Art Fair, New Delhi, India In 2023, Venkanna had three solo shows titled Reworkings at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India, Looking for Peace, that opened at Modesti Perdriolle Gallery, Belgium and LOVE ME AS I AM curated by Abhay Maskara at Gallery Maskara in Mumbai, India. The year 2022 also marked 20-years of his printmaking practice and he had his eleventh solo show titled AS I AM at Gallery Maskara in Mumbai, India. During the same year, he also participated in various group shows including Inside India, Espace 251 Nord, Liege, Belgium curated by Laurent Jacob. Radical Enchantments, AICON Gallery, NY, curated by Jason Vartikar. Inside India, Modesti Perdriolle Gallery, Belgium. In 2021 Venkanna was part of a group show titled The Art of India, Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, Iowa, USA curated by Anne Pagel. In 2019 the artist had two solo shows titled LOVE ME and Tradition/Transformation - both shows at Gallery Maskara were curated by Abhay Maskara.

In 2018 Venkanna was invited to participate in Inde at Manoir de Martigny, Switzerland. In 2017 his solo show Looking for Peace opened at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India. In 2016 he was part of a group show TIME at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India. In 2015 his solo show CELEBRATION curated by Abhay Maskara opened at Gallery Maskara. In 2014 his shows include Residual Remnants, Site art space, Baroda, India; Midnight's Grandchildren curated by Girish Shahane, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai, India; Trajectories: 19th-21st Century Printmaking from India and Pakistan curated by Dr. Paula Sengupta and Camilla H. Chaudhary, Sharjah Art Museum, UAE. Major shows in 2012-13 include Air Sri Lanka, Galerie Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, Austria, Lunch with Olympia, curated by Dr. Robert Storr, Yale University School of Art, CT, USA, Between the Lines: Identity, Place, and Power, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, India, Pancha Mahabhuta (The Five Great Elements) at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India, Cynical Love: Life in the Everyday curated by Gayatri Sinha at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Noida, India,a solo presentation at Art Brussels 30th Contemporary Art Fair, ProjectStage at Art Stage Singapore, the India Art Fair, India, the VIP Art Fair, (online). In 2011, Venkanna presented a controversial solo performance at Art Stage Singapore and was part of New Trends from South India, at the Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai, India. Other key projects during the year included; CROSSROADS: India escalate (India Pavilion) at the Prague Biennale 5, Czech Republic, a solo presentation at the Art Brussels 29th Contemporary Art Fair, Belgium, Fabular Bodies, curated by Gayatri Sinha for the Harmony Art Foundation, Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai, India, Printmaking: Open Studio, at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India,  (M)other India at Galerie du Jour - Agnès B, Paris, France and Window in the Wall, Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai, China. In 2010 his work was part of Finding India: Art for the New Century, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Taipei, Taiwan. His solo show, NERO opened at Gallery Luce in Torino, Italy and he simultaneously showed at Artissima 17 Torino, Italy. He was also the youngest artist featured in the Saatchi Gallery show The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, London, UK.

 

His works are in major collections in India, Japan, Russia, Netherlands, France, USA, UK, including the Burger Collection, Switzerland, the Swagemakers collection, Netherlands, the Karen and Robert Duncan Collection, USA , The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India, amongst several others.

T. Venkanna

Born 1980, Gajwel, India. Lives and works in Baroda, India

Education
2006        M.F.A. (Printmaking) Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda, India

2004        B.F.A. (Painting) (Gold Medal) J.N.T.U, Hyderabad, India

 

Solo Exhibitions/Projects

2025

Black Blue Yellow, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

2024

Venkanna Drawings 2014-2024: Part I, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

Asia Now, Paris, France, Modesti Perdriolle Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

 

2023

Reworkings, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

Looking for Peace, Modesti Perdriolle Gallery, Belgium

LOVE ME AS I AM, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

2022

AS I AM, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

2019

LOVE ME, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

Tradition/Transformation, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

2017

Looking for Peace, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India

 

2015

CELEBRATION, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

2013

Art Brussels 31, Contemporary Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium

Pancha Mahabhuta, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai

 

2012

Art Brussels 30th Contemporary Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium

Pancha Mahabhuta, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India

 

2011

Printmaking: Open Studio, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

Art Brussels 29th Contemporary Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium

Here I am yours, I am yours, be mine, ArtStage Singapore, Singapore

 

2010

NERO, Gallery Luce, Turin, Italy

Sacred and Profane, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

2009

For Identity, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

 

Group Exhibitions

 

2024

Politically Charged, Aicon, New York, USA

Inked Legacies Linked Geographies, Srishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad, India

Siren’s Lullaby in a Forgotten Realm, Gallery Dotwalk, Gurgaon, India

Miracle of Absence, Art Exposure, Kolkata, India

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

 

2023

Vichitra Desh: Queer Nation, New Delhi

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

 

2022

Inside India, Espace 251 Nord, Liege, Belgium

Radical Enchantments, Aicon Gallery, NY

Inside India, Modesti Perdriolle Gallery, Belgium

 

 

2021

The Art of India, Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, Iowa, USA

 

2018

Inde, Manoir de Martigny, Switzerland

 

2016

TIME, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

 

 

2014

Residual Remnants, Site art space, Baroda, India

Trajectories: 19th – 21st Century Printmaking from India and Pakistan, Sharjah Art Museum, UAE

Midnight's Grandchildren, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

 

2013

Air Sri Lanka, Galerie Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, Austria

Lunch with Olympia, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT, USA

Between the Lines: Identity, Place, and Power, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, India

Skoda Prize Show, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi, India

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

 

2012

VIP Art Fair, Online

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

Mumbai Gallery Weekend, Mumbai, India

Cynical Love: Life in the Everyday, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Noida, India

ProjectStage, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore


2011

(M)other India, Galerie du Jour – Agnès B., Paris, France

Window in the Wall, Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai, China

Fabular Bodies, Harmony Art Foundation, Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai

CROSSROADS: India escalate (India Pavilion), Prague Biennale 5, Prague, Czech Republic

New Trends from South India, Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai, India

Group Show, India Art Summit, New Delhi, India

2010

Finding India:  Art for the New Century, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan

Artissima 17 International Fair of Contemporary Art in Torino, Torino, Italy

The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK

 

2005-2008
loosentiefirst, Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India

789, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, India

Chronicles of the Unspoken, Travancore Gallery, Delhi, India

Show-off, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai, India

Group Show, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Student Show, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, India

Residencies

2013

Krinzinger Projekte/One World Foundation, Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

 

Collections

Major collections in India, Japan, Russia, Netherlands, France, USA, UK, including the Burger Collection, Switzerland, the Swagemakers collection, Netherlands, the Karen and Duncan Collection, USA, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India amongst others.

 

Press Quotes

“In every good exhibition, if it’s really good, there will be good paintings...And in Art Brussels, the one that really stole the show was from Indian artist T. Venkanna, represented by Maskara Gallery from Mumbai. There is a vibrant, life and death quality to all of Venkanna’s work, though I personally most enjoyed this painting. Though it is dark and features the face of death, it rises also with such urgency that it seems to spring to life. The multi-layered compositions and deft use of colors further expand not only the painting’s depth, but its reach. It’s no longer European or Indian painting – it’s pure, vibrant, source of life painting.” - Hadelin Feront, May 1 2011, Pulp Gazette – Art Laboratory and Journal, Brussels, Belgium

"Constantly immediate and with raw openness, T. Venkanna creates new art for a new world. His storytelling takes various forms through constellations of images, collage, pastiche, the recourse to allegory, painting - all ways of thinking-in-pictures from which understanding emerges without having to be expounded." - Sonia Nazareth, Feb 15, 2011, Art & Deal, India

"Mumbai painters T. Venkanna and Atul Dodiya variously hijack twentieth-century westerners such as Henri Rousseau and Jasper Johns, in paintings that force Western primitivism and avant-gardism into historical dialogue with the mixed iconography of India's aesthetic traditions and its urban present" - JJ Charlesworth, Feb 4, 2010, Time Out London, UK

"T Venkanna's reworked versions of Douanier Rousseau are fun and sexy..." - Adrian Searle, Feb 2, 2010, The Guardian, UK

"As the gallery going crowd dubs him one of the more radical voices in today's Indian Contemporary art scene..."T Venkanna, a bold and scathing Hyderabad artist explores a world of fantasy" - Georgina Maddox, Jan 12, 2009, The Indian Express, India

"A young artist pushes the limits of sexual imagination" - Vishwas Kulkarni, Jan 30, 2009, Mumbai Mirror, India

"The Baroda based artist, whose works focus on the sexual imagination, re-visits motifs and imageries from artists like Mondrian, Henri Rousseau, and other classical examples, but irreparably tweaks them with his patented perversity" - Vishwas Kulkarni, Sep 27, 2008, Mumbai Mirror, India

"Subversive, daring imagery inspired by the profane and the prohibited" - Georgina Maddox, Sep 24, 2008

 

Artist Statement
The predominant subject in T. Venkanna's works is sexual imagination which questions and confronts the stereotypical ways in which sexuality is understood and defined.

"The sexual behavior of human beings is habituated by societal norms and conditions. I believe it is due to this, that sexual fantasy gains importance in a human being's life and an individual achieves extreme pleasure out of this simple act of day-dreaming, wherein s/he escapes from the harsh realities of this world via an undisturbed and uninterrupted flight of imagination."

"In this endeavor of mine, I also have been (re)presenting certain imageries/motifs taken from artists of yester years [like Hockney, Rousseau, Mondrian, etc.] as well as from specific forms of traditional art. The political and social contexts underlying these works were quite different when they were made. I re-present these imageries according to my idea, in the process critically evaluating the norms and terms that exist within contemporary society."

His continuous persistence with this subject has stimulated his interest to explore image-making in all kinds of media, including drawing, painting, embroidery, sculpture, installation, and performance. Venkanna's most important linguistic device is the integration of the personal and the social using material as per the subject's requirement with complete freedom and ease.

Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Exhibitions
Events
Bibliography
T. Venkanna

Bibliography                                                                                                                                 

Reviews

Gudavarthy, Ajay, How Democracy Die, Outlook India Magazine, January 21, 2025

Paul, Chokita, Confluence of landforms, Deccan Chronicle, Dec 2024

Editors, Art India Magazine, Issue 01, 2024

Karia, Vedant, Art Exposure’s new art space at Lake Terrace, The Telegraph Online, Sept 2024

Maddox, Georgina, Vichitra Desh – Queer kinship in the capital, The Hindu, Nov,2023

Shah Verma, Jasmine, Between Death & Desire, Art India Magazine, Q3 2023     

Singh, Pia, T. Venkanna: Looking for Peace, Brooklynrail.org, May 2023

Iyengar, Radhika, The Fearless Disruptor, Vogue India, March-April, 2023

Balaram, Rajashree, Love Me As I AM, Architectural Digest, January-February, 2023

Shiware, Shweta, String Instruments, Sunday Mid-Day, February 20, 2020

Shah Verma, Jasmine, Three Robust Enquiries, Art India Magazine, Q1 2022

Pillai, Pooja, The Final Bow, The Indian Express, Mumbai, India, July 23, 2016

http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/gallery-maskaras-last-show-featuring-six-artists-is-a-fitting-tribute-to-the-space-itself-as-well-as-the-art-displayed-within-its-walls-over-the-last-decade-2930714/

Lakhe, Amruta, Sex and the Society, The Indian Express, Mumbai, India, February 5, 2015

Banerjee, Somudra, Erotic but not provocative, The Asian Age, Mumbai, India, January 19, 2015

Editors, T. Venkanna’s Celebration opens at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, mattersofart.net, January 15, 2015

http://www.mattersofart.net/newsdetail.aspx?mpgid=4&pgid=4&nid=235

Cembalest, Robin, It’s Manet Mania Weekend at Yale!, Artnews.com, September 19, 2013

http://www.artnews.com/2013/09/19/manet-mania-at-yale/

Arslan, Zaira, Different Strokes, Indian Express Mumbai Newsline, Mumbai, India, March 30, 2013

Sorabjee, Deepika, Natural Resources, Mint Lounge, Mumbai, India, March 30, 2013

Doshi, Riddhi, Drawing on the elements, Hindustan Times, Mumbai, India, March 30, 2013

Uttam, Payal, Gallery Maskara: What I’m Bringing, Wall Street Journal wsj.com, Jan 13, 2012
<http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2012/01/13/gallery-maskara-what-im-bringing/>

Kalra, Vandana and Arslan, Zaira, Art From Close Quarters, Indian Express Mumbai Newsline, Mumbai, India, July 28, 2011

Nagree, Zeenat, Prints Charming, Time Out Mumbai, Mumbai, India, July 22, 2011

Mumbai Mirror Bureau, Printmaking for you, Mumbai Mirror, Mumbai, India, July 16, 2011

Mehta, Shweta, Artist Becomes Own Exhibit, Hindustan Times HT Cafe, Mumbai, India, July 16, 2011

Feront, Hadelin, Art Brussels 2011: Reportage, Pulp Gazette – Art Laboratory and Journal, Brussels, Belgium, May, 2011 <http://pulpgazette.net/?p=456>
Nazareth, Sonia, Nero, Art Etc, New Delhi, Issue 34, Vol. 7 No. 4, February 15, 2011

Maddox, Georgina, Venus in Vadodara, Eye, The Sunday Express Magazine, India, October 10-16, 2010

Shukla, Subhalakshmi, Sacred and Profane: T. Venkanna, Art & Deal, New Delhi, Vol-7 No. 2 Issue No. 32

Varghese, Reuben, The Phallus Fallacy, Art India, India, Vol XV, Issue II, Quarter II, 2010

Pal, Deepanjana, Two in Hand, Time Out Mumbai, Mumbai, India, March 2010

Searle, Adrian, The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, The Guardian -www.guardian.co.uk, London, UK, February, 2010

Charlesworth, J.J., The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, Time Out London, London, UK, February 2010

Kulkarni, Vishwas, Derobing the Mind, Mumbai Mirror, Mumbai, India, January 2009

Pal, Deepanjana, For Identity, Time Out Mumbai, Mumbai, India, January 2009

Maddox, Georgina, Forbidden Fruit, The Indian Express Mumbai Newsline, Mumbai, India, January 2009

Pal, Deepanjana, Starting Up, Time Out Mumbai, Mumbai, India, January 2009