Alwar Balasubramaniam

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Alwar Balasubramaniam
Born	1971 (age 53–54) Tamil Nadu, India
Nationality	Indian

Alwar Balasubramaniam (Tamil: ஆழ்வார் பாலசுப்ரமணியம், Hindi: अलवर बालासुब्रमण्यम, born c. 1971) professionally known as Bala, is an Indian artist who makes sculptures, paintings, and printmaking.^[1]

Bala was born in Tamil Nadu, India. In 1995, he obtained a BFA from the Government College of Arts in Chennai, specializing in printmaking. Later, he continued his studies in prints and paintings at the Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop (EPW) and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He resided at the MacDowell Colony in Massachusetts in the early 2000s and transitioned into sculpture and installation work after that.^[2]

In 2002, Bala held his inaugural solo exhibition in the United States at the Talwar Gallery in New York City.^[3] The exhibition included sculptures crafted from casts of his own body, monoprints, and a heat-sensitive artwork that unveiled itself under specific temperatures. Bala has also exhibited his work at the Talwar Gallery in both New York and in New Delhi.^[2] His other exhibitions include Skin^[3] at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.^[4] He has also participated in group exhibitions including the 50th Anniversary of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, named Contemplating the Void in 2010,^[5] and On Line at the Museum of Modern Art in New York between 2010 and 2011.^[6]

Bala's works have been exhibited in museums, art festivals, and galleries worldwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), New York, NY;^[7] The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY;^[8] The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC;^[9] Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY;^[5] Mori Art Museum, Japan;^[10] Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi, India;^[11] Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington;^[12] Essl Museum, Austria;^[13] The 1st Singapore Biennale;^[14] École des Beaux Arts, Paris, France;^[15] and the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia.^[16] Bala has been a guest lecturer in the Art Department at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and a speaker at TED.^[17]

Bala's artistic focus centers on the human body and its interaction with the material environment, particularly emphasizing intangible elements such as light, air, and shadow.^[18]

• Sculpture Magazine, July 2019
• Artforum, "Alwar Balasubramaniam," September 2018
• Artforum, "Critics Pick: Alwar Balasubramaniam," May 2016
• Art Asia Pacific, "Layers of Wind, Lines of Time," May 2015
• "A. Balasubramaniam Profile,Interview and Artworks"
• TEDIndia, "Alwar Balasubramaniam: Art of substance and absence", September 2010
• MoMA, Behind the Scenes: On Line, A. Balasubramaniam
• New York Times Review, On Line, MoMA, December 2011
• A. Balasubramaniam is represented by Talwar Gallery,
• A. Balasubramaniam on artnet
• Time Out New Delhi
• New York Times – (Desi)re
• New York Times Review – May 2002