5 little monkeys sitting on a ladder; "Tamasha", an installation by N S Harsha
Installation name: Tamasha
Year: 2013
Materials used: Fiberglass, Cloth, Bamboo, Coir
Set of 5 Monkeys
Location: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Displayed next to 75 other works by the artist in a retrospective called “Charming Journey”
Curated by: Kataoka Mami (Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum)
In Association with: Embassy of India + The Japan-India Association
Exhibition Period: Saturday, February 4, 2017 - Sunday, June 11, 2017
"Tamasha" makes us recall Hanuman Langur*, which served as the model for the popular monkey god Hanuman that appears in the Ramayana. However in reality, the inspiration for N.S. Harsha came from a lonely monkey sitting on a drainpipe watching the construction of Harha's new studio. At the same time, it refers to the European myth called Ratking phenomena, which somehow the group of rats have their tails mingles and caught up each other.
* Hanuman Langur: a group of old world monkeys
About the artist
Born 1969 in Mysuru, Karnataka in Southern India, N. S. Harsha continues to live and work in Mysuru. He received a Masters Degree in Painting in 1995 from the Maharaja Sayajirao (MS) University of Baroda [Vadodara]. The artist is a recipient of prestigious awards including the DAAD Scholarship (2012) and Artes Mundi Prize (2008). He has participated in a number of international exhibitions such as the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India, 2014); Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2013); Dojima River Biennale (Osaka, 2013); Adelaide International Biennial (Australia, 2012); the Yokohama Triennale (2011) and the Bienal de São Paulo (Brazil, 2010). He also held solo exhibitions at Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA), London in 2009, and Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum, Tokyo in 2008. He was also a participant in the major international touring exhibition “Indian Highway” at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 2008 (followed by five major museums all over the world through 2012), and “Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art” at the Mori Art Museum in 2008 (touring to Seoul and Vienna in 2009).