Monday, October 2, 2017

Still visible Raj Kumar- Talk by Anil Kumar HA

About the talk:
Referring to the late Kannada film star Dr. Rajkumar, a cultural theoretician said that 'a cultural hero' is construed when politics fails to produce one (K.V.Narayana). A writer complemented him saying that this man started playing the role of 'Rajkumar' and never removed his make up till the end (Devanooru Mahadeva). A film critic said that in his appearance as Rajkumar, he reminds us of a Brahmin boy from the Mysore province (M.K.Raghavendra). A Jnanpith awardee said that his major films should be subtitled into several Indian languages and be telecast regularly, from the moralistic point (U.R.Ananthamurthy). He is still very much alive in the sacred and profane public spaces. For almost half a century he had been familiar to us through the still photos--published and stored. Yet the promised (allegoric or otherwise) museum about him is yet to take a shape. This is the story of an artist who ruled the hearts of many generations, was a live model for morality-in-art; where even the ruling class was ruled by him while defining artistic policies. 

In this backdrop, this presentation is about unleashing a specific cultural memoir of a generation from the last five decades, which was affected by the process of watching one still image that altered, changed, agreed but refuses to perish. It includes personal anecdotes, stories and analysis about his identity as a hero, singer, protagonist of a linguistic autonomy; and last but not least, as an artist.


About the Speaker:
H. A. Anil Kumar writes, teaches and speaks about visual culture in English and Kannada. He studied Contemporary Curation in Royal College of Arts (London), Art History (Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan) & Painting (CKP). His writings have meandered through art journalism, art criticism, art history, monographs, catalogues, art travelogue and graphic novel formats. His books include the monographs as well as travels to Finland, Russia and Santiniketan. He is also a translator and has translated most of the NGMA (Bangalore) exhibition publications. He has translated John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" to Kannada. He is a recipient of fellowships, scholarships and awards from Unesco-Aschberg Fellowship, Pro-Helvetia, Charles Wallace Trust, B.C.Sanyal's 'Dedicated Teacher' award as well as 'Best Communicator' award from PRCI. Currently he heads the Dept. of Art History at the College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bengaluru.
















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