chitraramanathan

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Chitra Ramanathan's unique, intensely colorful body of paintings - albums, videos of public art

Biography

Guided by flashes of inspiration, contemporary visual artist, art educator and muralist Chitra Ramanathan's extensive body of work express her ongoing creative journey through a unique body of paintings which has produced delight, inspiration and peace to lovers and owners of her artwork. The artist's acrylics and mixed-media paintings, many of them very large, are uniquely characteristic of intense colors and multiple layers of varied textural materials that interact with light to "challenge the boundaries of their two-dimensional surfaces". They are inspired by short-lived garden blooms and cyclical seasons both of which the artist compares with the continually evolving, ephemeral, fleeting happiness' "formless form": a phrase she has coined to describe her concept. Hints of circles signify the human life-cycle which allude to trying times followed by happy phases, as a continuous cycle of life and rebirth influenced by her roots from India.

Painted on diverse surfaces be they canvas, plexiglas, linen, paper or anodized aluminum, viewers experience the illusion of the images extending beyond the confines of their otherwise two-dimensional surfaces under any light situation. Her work explores color, form and line that emerge as “formless forms” as she calls her abstracted images that mysteriously peek out of colorful details, while hints at circles that are also an integral part of her work signify the human life cycle. As a whole, her compositions and assemblages present an ongoing dialogue that offers endless possibilities to the viewer imagination.

A month-long solo retrospective exhibition of a large selection from her body of work was invited for the Indianapolis Artsgarden, near Monument Circle in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA in January 2006, closely following a visitor artist tour at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, England to which institution, present RA Keeper and Head Professor Maurice Cockrill invited the artist to a presentation of her body of work, and to conduct student tutorials for a week at the RA Schools in October 2005.

Completed invitational commissions:

* Permanent childrens' wall mural measuring 13.8 feet wide, 4 feet located front lobby of Crooked Creek Elementary School in Marion County, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. A site-specific public art project made possible through a grant to Crooked Creek Elementary School in Marion County, Indianapolis in Indiana, USA. Completed: 2008

* Five large-scale mixed-media paintings commissioned by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, exhibited at Chase Towers, Monument Circle, downtown Indianapolis from July 2006 to February 2007. An annual project of the Arts Council of Indianapolis supported by the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission to promote the city of Indianapolis as a cultural destination.

*Commission by MGM Mirage: permanent site-specific installation, pair of 4 ft x 6 ft signed paintings based on earlier works, housed in the Café Bellagio in the Bellagio Conservatory indoor botanical garden of the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Installed in 2004

* Pair of paintings measuring 58 in. x 62 in. & 38 in. x 48 in., permanent display, College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Champaign, Illinois, USA, gift to the college in 1996.

Selected visiting artist tours:

Forthcoming:

Mixed media workshop, San Diego Art Institute, California, USA. Date to be announced.

Royal Academy of Arts, London, U.K (details above)

Visiting artist slide lecture,Department of Art at Kansas State Manhattan, Kansas, USA 2002

Selected Books/Magazine/Journal publications:

Books:

* International Dictionary of Artists - Artists' Reference Book, First Edition, 2011. Museum quality. Language: English. Full Color. Size: 10" x 13" inches or 25 x 33 cm.Hard cover. Curator: Despina Tunberg

Publisher: World Wide Art Books
5383 Hollister Ave, # 140
93111 Santa Barbara CA
Tel / fax +1 805 683 3899

* International Contemporary Artists vol I - Ramanathan, Chitra, p.118,

Publisher: Publisher: Lemonidou Eve; 1st edition (October 24, 2010)
Lemonidou Eve (Author), Eve Lemonidou (Editor), Olga Antoniadou (Editor)
In. Co. Artists Books
US: 9 Columbus Avenue, NYC, NY 10024, US
EU: Athens Towers, 2-4 Messogion Av. Athens 115 27, GR

http://www.amazon.com/. Paperback: 272 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9609322980
ISBN-13: 978-9609322980
Price: 117 USD

* Biography, Marquis Publications Who’s Who in America 2008, 62nd Edition

* “The Artists Bluebook 2004", Directory of American Artists from the 16th Century to August 2004"- by Lonnie Pierson Dunbier, Editor, www.askART.com "Books on this artist"

Magazines:

* Interview/profile: ”Paintings Give Form to the Ephemeral” by Della Pacheco, the Indianapolis Business Journal, Section: Women in Business, April 9-15, 2007

* Profile: “Secret Success”, Indianapolis Monthly Home Magazine, July 2006

Publications:

Abstract, a publication of the College Art Association "World Art: A Panhuman Narrative for Egalitarian Teaching" Co Chair, Art History Session: Presentation: "World Art: A Panhuman Narrative for Egalitarian Teaching" by Barbara Nesin and Chitra Ramanathan, Committee on Diversity Practices- College Art Association (http://www.collegeart.org/) 96th Annual Conference, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, USA 2008.

Future and ongoing interests:

*Art direction, set creation/set design/set construction projects to design, build, construct and paint custom props, creating murals.

*Consult and develop themes, accept commissions for corporate or non- profit organizations
*Teach study abroad holiday courses in the drawing and painting mediums

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Information

Name: Chitra Ramanathan
Joined: May 16, 2011
School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, M.B.A), Art School of the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida, USA (Art faculty)
Occupation: Established visual artist - Painter, Art educator
Genre: Traditional Art, Drawing, Print Making, Mixed Media, Collage, Painting, Murals, Installation Art, Pen and Inks, Concept Art