Shibu Natesan

Born in Trivandrum in 1966. Shibu Natesan is an artist, who is mainly known for his contemporary paintings that represent the real to interrogate the ways in which visuality is formed and mediated. Seemingly realist, these familiar images unsettle the viewers visual experience through the painterly surface, use of colours and the represented objects/scenes. They help the viewers to defamiliarize the object domain of everyday life. Drawing inspiration from the long lineage of still life genre, Natesan subverts the genre by making us look beyond the surficial. Furthermore, they question our own perpetual quest to capture reality at its best, especially at a time when image making practices have advanced so far. Natesan’s paintings are a reminder about the limits of such attempts and they always inform us that the representation of reality is mired in the process of mediation and ideology. An important artist from South Asia, Natesan completed his fine arts practice from Trivandrum (Kerala) and Baroda (Gujarat) and later spent two years, between 1996 -97 at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. He was awarded the UNESCO - Aschberg Bursary, Uriot Prize by Rijksakademie, Amsterdam and Triennale Award of the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India in 2005. 
 

Academics

Graduation in painting from College of Fine Arts Trivandrum, Kerala.

Masters in Print Making from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, Baroda.

Awards

“Uriot Prize’ from the Rijksakademie van Beeldande Kunsten, Amsterdam in 1996.

Gold medal from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1991.