BENGALURU: Balan Nambiar is one of the most prolific sculptors from the mid-1960s. He is a painter, sculptor, enamellist, academic researcher and also a photographer.
He moved to Bengaluru in 1971 from Chennai. During that period, he recollects, there was only a small art gallery at Alliance Française de Bangalore and only two freelance artists including him. He says, “Now, there are at least 25. By freelance artist, I mean artists living on money they get from the sales of their works only.”
He is presenting a stainless-steel sculpture at the ongoing exhibition at Art Houz, Vasanthnagar. The exhibition attempts to trace the history of art in the city, through the works of its prominent artists. Nambiar lives and works in Bengaluru.
His current exhibit is on balance, rhythm and harmony. To see the balance, he says, follow the lines of the sculpture.
He began working with clay, concrete and wood and then moved onto mild steel and bronze. Since 2000, he has been using stainless steel for all his sculptures. They come in various scales -- from 10 cm to seven metres.
Nambiar started working on stainless steel as a response to institutional neglect of art. “The steel starts corroding, if neglected,” he says. “At some institutions, these sculptures were not maintained well... when I saw this, I decided I wouldn’t work with steel any more.” Stainless steel is durable and easy to maintain. “For the past 16 years, I have been working only with stainless steel as it is everlasting,” he says.
Apart from painting and sculpting, he also does photography and academic research. He has researched extensively on Theyyam, a folk art for Kerala. Nambiar says that all his knowledge adds to his creative work.
In high school, his favourite subjects were mathematics and art. “I think that is why you can see maths in my art,” says Nambiar.
Born in 1937, Kannapuram, Kerala, Nambiar studied sculpture in the Madras College of Arts and Crafts.