The artist Chitra Ramanathan's paintings and biography

Chitra Ramanathan News, September, 2004




Chitra Ramanathan's latest major commission entailed completing two six foot by four foot paintings for the MGM MIRAGE Hotel's Cafe BELLAGIO remodel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Completion Date: August, 2004.These two new works that will be up on the Bellagio walls by end of October 2004, are based on her 1998 and 2000 originals titled "A MOMENTARY GLANCE", and "CORUSCATION" repsectively. Chitra is a faculty member at the Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A and also currently has her three of her work in the Faculty Exhibition at the Art Center.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR CHITRA RAMANATHAN

This biography is from the Archives of AskART. Parts of the biography text are from the "Kala Arts Quarterly", Toronto, Winter 2000.

Chitra Ramanathan is a painter who has made a mark on the contemporary art scene. She has had several solo exhibitions in New York and Chicago.

What impresses one about Chitra's art is the theme of happiness portrayed with colors and textures. Chitra's prints and paintings were described by the Champaign-Urbana Gazette as "simply luxurious" with "abstract play of color and flickering brush work" and "dominated by a central burst of energy".

Most of her paintings' titles are indicative of her theme. Consider Effulgence, Euphoric, Exuberance, Field of Ecstasy, Exultation, Lyrical Profusion and Revelry.

Chitra specially likes to work with textures, and has used sand, fiber, gold and silver leaf, tempera, and acrylic and ceramic stucco. She has also used transparent media such as plexiglas, rice paper, and linen instead of the traditional canvas. By painting on both sides of transparent media she has created multi-dimensional effects, with images at the back appearing to emerge from within, a sort of "floating quality"."

Chitra's first major solo exhibition was at the A.R.C. Gallery and Educational Foundation in Chicago in June 1994, which led to her debut in New York in April 1995.

Luis Rodrigues Aranguren of Nosotros Magazine" in New York, described Chitra's work with gusto. "Transforming the invisible into the visible through abstract polichromy, predominantly from the blue gamut, the Indo-American painter Chitra Ramanathan seduced plastic art lovers who gathered at the gallery representing her in the absolute heart of Soho. Faithful to her cultural roots, Chitra Ramanathan communicates her emotions with evident metaphysical lyricism of light and color, using strong and vibrant colors to express the exuberant allegories of life in the context of human existence."

In her October 1995 exhibition of paintings and sculpture at the Agora Gallery in New York, Chitra used paint, anodized aluminum and Plexiglas to create what Manhattan Arts magazine called "tactile works that resonate with a quiet harmony".

In 1997 and again in 1998, special gallery exhibitions were held of Chitra's works.

In describing her own work, Chitra says she has been influenced by two cultures. She blends the "obsession for minute detail" and "ritualistic pattern of mark making" from her Hindu culture with the "abstract expressionism" of Western culture. "My present work consists of lyrical compositions with an interplay of large doses of iridescent colors to capture the various nuances of light, while incorporating floating 'imageless' forms in an atmosphere of intricate detail."

Chitra showed an early and enthusiastic interest in the fine arts, developing a passion for drawing and coloring at a very young age. She continued to win several prizes in art competitions throughout her childhood.

She went on to study Fine Arts in Stella Maris College in Chennai, obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. In 1993 she acquired a second Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with Honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also made time to study Contemporary French Art History and Painting in Paris, France.

While at the University of Illinois, Chitra was twice the recipient of the annual Liquitex Excellence in Art Student Grant Award from Binney & Smith, the makers of Crayola. The award is a designation of outstanding achievement and excellence in the painting discipline.

Chitra continues to maintain her affiliations with The American Association of Museums and The International Sculpture Center in Washington, D.C., and The Art Institute in Chicago.

While she has been painting Chitra has also sought learning and growth in other areas. She has studied to get an MBA from the University of Illinois, and is now learning computer technology.

Currently she has been commissioned to paint two six foot by four foot paintings based on two of her 1999 and 2000 originals, for the MGM MIRAGE Cafe Bellagio remodel in Las Vegas. Completion Date: May 2004.

She has been appointed a faculty member at the Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis beginning summer 2004.

For Chitra, happiness is "just a way of seeing things." She feels this is what her Hindu culture has taught her. Spirituality gives her energy and the ability to be happy. She feels that continuous learning is a great way to stay happy and never grow old.
























SeekOn/Indianapolis