Ranbir Kaleka
(b.1953)
Ranbir Kaleka completed a diploma in painting at the College of Art, Punjab University in Chandigarh in 1975, and subsequently took on a teaching assignment at the Punjabi University and College of Art in New Delhi. He later obtained his Master’s degree in painting from the Royal College of Art in London on a Charles Wallace Scholarship in 1987. Some of his select solo and group shows include the 4th Guangzhou Triennial, 2011; MediaArtLab in Moscow, in 2011; Prague Biennale 5, in 2011, Lalit Kala Akademi’s ‘Tolstoy Farm- Archive of Utopia’, in 2011; ‘Contemporary Masterpieces from Private Collections’ at Singapore Art Museum, in 2011; ‘Finding India, Art for the New Century’ at MOCA Taipei, in 2010; Hong Kong Art Fair, in 2010; ‘Sweet Unease’ at Volte Gallery, Mumbai, in 2010.
Often termed surrealistic, Ranbir Kaleka’s works usually follow a dream-logic, refraining from coherent narratives. Though his earlier works from the seventies seemed more internalised, weaving together seemingly unrelated, fantastic elements, his later works remain open ended and in communication with the viewer, making their viewing an interactive experience. Often erotic and libidinous, his works present themselves to the viewer to project her/his subconscious onto, subverting the apparent ambiguity on a subjective level. The libidinal in his works remain masculine and primal, framed by phantasmal animal motifs.
