Sri-Lankan born, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran is a contemporary artist. He is interested in global histories and languages of figurative representation and their intersections with issues relating to the politics of idolatry, the monument, gender, race and religiosity. He has specific interests in South Asian forms and imagery. While he is best known for his inventive and somewhat unorthodox approach to ceramic media, his material vernacular is broad. He has worked imaginatively with a range of sculptural materials including bronze, concrete, neon, LED and fibreglass.
Selected Works
Overview
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Idols of Mud and Water, 2023.
Installation views, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland. Commissioned by Tramway, Glasgow and funded by Creative Australia, Creative Scotland and the Henry Moore Foundation. Photography by Keith Hunter.
installation view, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo Mark Pokorny.
Installation view, Dark MOFO, Tasmania.
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Earth Deities, 2022.
Installation view, Vivid Sydney, Hickson Road Reserve. Photography by Mark Pokorny.
earthenware, glaze, gold lustre, platinum lustre, enamel, porcelain, polystyrene
352 × 258 × 100 cm
495 × 258 × 125 cm (with plinth)
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Slaying Monsters, Kuandu Biennale, 2016.
Installation view, Kuandu National Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan.
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, The Cave, The National: New Australian Art, 2017.
Installation view, Carriageworks, Eora/Sydney. Courtesy the artist and Carriageworks.
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, False Gods, 2019.
Installation view, Sullivan+Strumpf, Eora/Sydney. Photography by Mark Pokorny.
bronze sculpture on custom made spray painted mild steel plinth
(unique kinetic edition includes motor built into the plinth)
181.5 x 95 x 52 cm (total)
141 x 60 x 18 cm (sculpture)
40.5 x 95 x 52 (plinth)
Edition of 3 + 2 Artist's Proofs + 1 unique kinetic edition
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Undergod, 2023.
Installation view, Sullivan+Strumpf, Naarm/Melbourne. Photography by Christian Capurro.
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Undergod, 2023.
earthenware
74 × 41 × 27cm
earthenware and glaze
95 x 47 x 38 cm
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About
Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran
Biography
Ramesh is a contemporary artist interested in global histories and languages of figurative representation. He explores politics relating to idolatry, the monument, gender, race and religion with specific references to South Asian forms and imagery. While he is best known for his inventive approach to ceramic media, his material vernacular is broad. He has presented diverse works in museums, festivals, multi-art centres and the public domain. This has included significant presentations at the National Gallery of Australia, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, The Dhaka Art Summit, Art Basel Hong Kong and Dark Mofo festival.
While Ramesh is frequently presented to the public in a diverse range of print, online and television media related to art, culture and fashion, his contributions to contemporary art and culture have been acknowledged broadly. In 2019, he received a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship which recognised his outstanding talent and exceptional professional courage. This same year he presented work in the largest historical survey of LGBTQ Asian Art at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre. In 2022, his first 368- page monograph, titled RAMESH was published and internationally distributed by Thames & Hudson and he was recognised as GQ’s Artist of the Year as part of their Men of the Year Awards.In 2023, he held his first major international institutional show, Idols of Mud and Water, and Tramway, Glasgow.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales acquired his monumental work ‘Avatar Towers’. This installation of 70 ceramic and bronze figures was originally presented in the gallery’s historic vestibule. His work is held in various other public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, The National Gallery of Victoria, The Kiran Nadar Museum of Fine Art, the Art Gallery of South Australia, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, the Shepparton Art Museum as well as significant private collections globally.
Photography by Bowen Arico
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