Alexis Kersey: Cartographics

Nature More is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new works by the Mysore-based artist Alexis Kersey. Entitled "Cartographics," the works explore a range of graphic possibilities in a variety of medias. Trained as a sign-painter in Chennai, Kersey explores craft techniques in both marquetry inlaid work and as high-relief wall sculptures. His iconographic images (punks, saints, and demons; calligraphy, maps and textile patterns), refined for years as paintings, now glisten and pulse with the added lure of semi-precious materials: mother-of-pearl, rare woods, gilded glass and metals. The works oscillate between abstraction and representation, beauty and horror, decoration and narrative. The largest work in the show, entitled "Come the Revolution," presents a cast of characters cavorting across a map of the world, playing out epic tragedies against a backdrop that is both ancient and contemporary, culled from a variety of cultural sources. Other works start with Indian regional languages to make large graffiti signs, while others are mock shrines housing the gods of teenage popular culture. All together, the works add up to a level of sumptuousness that topples into the grotesque, Kersey's sardonic wit evident throughout. Alexis Kersey was born in Mysore in 1972. He has held solo exhibitions of his works at the British Library in London, the Apparao Galleries in Chennai, the British Council and the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. Nature Morte is located in central South Delhi near Siri Fort Auditorium and is open daily from 10am to 6pm, closed on Sundays. For more information or press photographs, please contact Geeta Bajaj at (011) 4174-0215.