The Golden Ratio

a lecture by

Balan Nambiar
Independent Artist and Scholar, Bangalore


On Sunday 21 August 2016 at 6.30 pm
at 1.Shanthi Road Studio/ Gallery
Shanthinagar, Bangalore 560027


About the Talk:

Most people, particularly in the field of art and architecture, know the term "Golden Ratio", but rarely realise that it exists in myriad forms in nature. The golden ratio was found in ancient Greek architecture and arts of 440 BC. The Sanskrit text of "Sulbha Suthra" had mentioned, way back in 800 - 600 BC, various mathematic formulas and measurements related to Vedic Altars.

In the western world an Italian mathematician Fibonacci in the 13th century found the sequence of numbers known as Fibonacci numbers, which justify the golden ratio, 1:1.618. Renaissance artists used this proportion extensively. Further, Golden Ratio can be seen in the creative works of visual arts, architecture, music and cinema. The presentation will touch upon some of these references as well as the influence of Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Numbers in the artist’s creative works.



About the Speaker:

Balan Nambiar is one of our rare scholar- artists. He is a painter, enamelist, sculptor, photographer, and a research scholar of the ritual performing arts of the west coast of south India. He has held numerous solo exhibitions of his garden sculptures and jewellery enamel paintings in India and abroad, exhibiting in the Venice Biennale and Bronzetto di Padova. His research papers and photographs have been presented at international conferences and published by prestigious institutions in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, apart from India. He has accumulated an enormous collection of slides and music from the ritual arts. He has received numerous awards such as the Karnataka Lait Kala Akademi Award, National Award, Nehru Fellowship and the Ravi Varma Puraskaram of Kerala.

LEFTOVERS

This show of leftovers is a tribute to the memory of the artists that passed through 1Shanthiroad and our diverging journeys recollected in the gallery. When an artist travels s/he is a cultural nomad and migrant. Artist residencies function as temporary studios or homes to these travelling artists. In these spaces one can find a choreography of consumption, excess, residue and possible renewal. Artists come with a baggage of fears and unpack them in this temporary space. Local materials blend with foreign products that the artists bring with them. These objects that are used and discarded function as an archive of leftovers of a time and context. These include art materials, medicines, clothes and cosmetics along with art works, drafts and experiments left behind in the studio. Often situations and artworks were fragile and though visibly disintegrating, artists had objected to discarding them resulting in negotiations in preserving, care-taking and reconstruction. Recontextualised in the context of this exhibition, these leftovers now stand rearranged waiting to move from this home to the next.

LEFTOVERS

This show of leftovers is a tribute to the memory of the artists that passed through 1Shanthiroad and our diverging journeys recollected in the gallery. When an artist travels s/he is a cultural nomad and migrant. Artist residencies function as temporary studios or homes to these travelling artists. In these spaces one can find a choreography of consumption, excess, residue and possible renewal. Artists come with a baggage of fears and unpack them in this temporary space. Local materials blend with foreign products that the artists bring with them. These objects that are used and discarded function as an archive of leftovers of a time and context. These include art materials, medicines, clothes and cosmetics along with art works, drafts and experiments left behind in the studio. Often situations and artworks were fragile and though visibly disintegrating, artists had objected to discarding them resulting in negotiations in preserving, care-taking and reconstruction. Recontextualised in the context of this exhibition, these leftovers now stand rearranged waiting to move from this home to the next.