Archive 2008-09
George Chakravarthi
- Venue: Fine Art Lecture Theatre
- Start: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:00:00 GMT
- End: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:00:00 GMT
“Chakravarthi’s very recent works follow a literary trajectory formed from relationships with specific groups and later with the wider public. ‘To The Man in My Dreams’ (2006) was based around the elusive character of ‘daddy’ to explore real and projected imaginings collapsed around the relational and sexual overtones of the term ‘daddy’. ‘Johnny Shekontai’, Chakravarthi's latest persona, gestated from his previous work with male and transgendered sex workers to investigate the parameters of gay pornography. In particular the penchant for the ‘straight guy’ genre, which Chakravarthi endeavors to inhabit across all visual and communicative realms (including the web), to invite and mobilize a multidisciplinary and interactive relationship with the viewer. ”
Adelaide Bannerman, June 2008
You were brought up a Catholic in India, a Hindu country. How did the two religions influence you?
Hinduism is very much about transformation, and the all the deities are pretty androgynous as they take on different forms to achieve different goals. Visually as well, Hinduism is very beautiful. And Catholicism in India is such a hybrid. You see the Virgin Mary dressed in a sari. So the two religions meet somewhere and become this other thing.
Would you say that a similar fusion of elements goes into your artwork?
I get called an Asian artist, a gender artist, a gay artist and a transvestite artist, all of which are fine and fun. I’d just call myself an artist who works from a personal place, and sometimes these are at the forefront of the work.
www.georgechakravarthi.co.uk/
http://www.axisweb.org/ofSARF.aspx?SELECTIONID=18702