Born February 5, 1946, Rajasthan,India.
Rameshwar Singh was born in Rajasthan, and received his M.A. in drawing and painting from Udaipur University in 1982. He has a fascination for antiquity. The subject matter may be old-fashioned, but the treatment is novel. His work is very much keeping in tune with times. Through his paintings, he pays tribute to our cultural tradition that, he believes, can never be outdated. Blending he past with the present and striking a right balance in the process
has helped him in establishing his identity.
His main source of inspiration is ancient scriptures, architecture and obviously his own state, Rajasthan, which is rich with art traditions. Old calligraphy, scripts and architecture also seize his mind. These frequently appear in his work. Artifacts like vessels, music instruments, games, toys and prints that speak so much of our rich tradition have a pulsating effect on him.
His canvasses are textured and layered over and over. Perhaps he hates leaving any empty space on canvass and embellishes and decorates every object. He profusely uses different scriptures like Arabic, Persian, Urdu and even English. The couplets used don't make any statement. They on their own do not represent anything, but he does not use the symbols for the heck of it. To decipher them, they need to be viewed in totality, keeping in mind the objects painted. A line with a shadow, cutting across the canvass, gives a sense of perspective to the painting. The concept is similar to one employed in old scrolled miniatures. Lines make a viewer stop and ponder, they also break the monotony and depth. Medium is not a barrier to him. He does not always go by set patterns. Some of his paintings extend to or beyond the frame.
He paints for deriving aesthetic pleasure. His work is neither a statement on anything nor it means to fight any notions or traditions. There are bodies halved into the shapes of human and animal. Strange objects fly around. An antique Roman clock invariably features somewhere. Everything seems like having been caught in a time warp. A true communication or communion is on between one color and another, between object and subject and things and thoughts.
About his work, fellow painter F. N. Souza has commented "His paintings are very compact; there’s a lot in them: figures, forms, and mythological content. Very colorful too.The forms are carefully constructed; there’s craftsmanship in his work, and skill. Sort of magic mantras and omens appear mysteriously
in Rameshwar's paintings.”
In the paintings with a mythological theme, he depicts different forms of Lord Ganesha, Lord Krishna, Goddess Durga and the Sun God. Art critic Keshav Malik, who has reviewed his work from early days writes "Singh’s apparitions from the cultural past cause nostalgia in viewers. This same dreamscape brims with the personae of charming figments, of birds, fish, beast and humans, of objects from both past and present. Here there are motifs from the foregoing Rajasthani painting as well as images of mundane objects of the day. All these have blended thoroughly." Malik adds, "No feel of over-crowding or of congestion. The ecology of his compositions, in other words, is just right; it suggests the interdependence of each on all, and of live and let live. This at least was the earlier Indian cultural methodology."
Critic Umesh Verma writes "Singh is a virile painter from Rajasthan. Calligraphic textures and through inner alchemic processing he creates highly decorative folkishly sweet objects and paintings. His process is more or less scientific and has obvious overtones of Rajasthan. Sweetness and mirage are the reason for the essence of his visuals. He invokes poetic-Lingo."
He started with abstract before slowly switching to figurative. May be, he has now come a full circle as he again feels like doing abstract. Very much concerned about declining art traditions, he feels that puppetry, folk dances, scroll painting, tattoo, etc belong to the rich art tradition & if no attention is
provided to their revival, these will simply vanish.
SOLO SHOWS
1982 AIFACS, New Delhi.
1983 Information Centre, Udaipur.
1983 Contemporary Art Gallery, Ahmedabad .
1984 Art Gallery, School of Arts, Jaipur.
1984 Art Gallery, Faculty and Fine Art, Baroda .
1984,1991,2000,2003,2005 Shridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi.
1985,1994,1998,2000,2006 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.
1986 Dhoomimal Art Centre, New Delhi.
1987,1989,1994,2003 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Calcutta.
1986,1990 Bajaj Art Gallery, Mumbai.
1987 Chetana Art Gallery, Mumbai.
1987,1991,1994,2002 Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai.
1989,1991,1994 Gallery Aurobido, New Delhi.
1993,1998,2001,2006 Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur.
1995,2002,2004 Welcome Gallery, Rajputana Palace Sheraton, Jaipur.
1995,1998,2002,2004 Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi.
1996 Srishti Art Gallery, Lucknow.
1996 Ravi Shankar Raval Bhawan, Ahmedabad .
1996 Durga`s Art Gallery, Mumbai.
1997 Nehru Centre, Mumbai.
1999,2003 Son-et-Lumiere, Mumbai.
1999 Westminster Art Gallery, Bangalore.
2000 Jamaat, Mumbai.
2001 ABC Gallery, Varanasi.
2001 Gallery Jan Steen, Amsterdam, Holland,
2002 Department of Fine Arts, Chandigarh ,
2003 Daffodils Art Gallery, The Grand Hyatt, New Delhi ,
2004 Ta BLU Café Gallery Bar, Clarks Amer, Jaipur,
2005 Crimson-the art resources, Bangalore,
2014 'Caught in a time warp', Juneja Art Gallery, Jaipur
AWARDS & HONOURS
1984 National Award, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi,
1995 Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academy, Jaipur
1985, 1987 Bombay Art Society
1984 U.P. State Lalit Kala Academy Lucknow,
1983,1987,1990 The Indian Academy of Fine Art, Amritsar,
1984 Hyderabad Art Society, Hyderabad,
2004 Ankan kala parishad,Bhilwara,
1977,1980 Tulika Kalakar Parishad, Udaipur,
1984 A.P. Council of Artists, Hyderabad,
1984,1990 Mahakaushal Kala Parishad, Raipur,
1985 Oriental Art Society, Calcutta,
1985 Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore,
1985,1990 Creators, Ambala Cantt.,
1988 Bharatha Kala Parishad, Hyderabad,
1990 South Central Zone Culture Centre, Nagpur,
1992 Banaras Artists Association, Banaras,
1992 1st Indian Drawing Biennial, The Solids Chandigarh,
1986 Research Scholarship, National Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi,
1997 All India Art Biennial of Rajasthan, Jaipur,
2000 All Indian Art Biennial of Rajasthan, Jaipur
2000 Nagridas kala sansthan, Kishangarh, Ajmer,
2006 Honour by His Excellency The Governor of Tamil Nadu,
PARTICIPATIONS
National L.K.A. Exhibition 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, New Delhi.
AIFACS 1983 to 1995 New Delhi.
Rajasthan State L.K.A. Exhibition 1982 to 1997 Jaipur.
Bharat Bhawan International Biennial of Print, 1987, 1991 Bhopal.
Diamond Jubilee AIFACS, New Delhi.
Centenary Year Bombay Art Society, Mumbai.
Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academy, Jaipur.
Silver Jubilee, Lalit Kala Academy, Bhuvaneshwar.
Apana Utsav, 1986 New Delhi.
CITY ART UTSAV, celebrated by City Bank, India, 90 Years, 1992, Mumbai.
International Art Show “Tokyo” 1983 Japan.
International Art Exhibition organized by WLRA World Congress & UNESCO 1993,Jaipur.
Kala Mela organized by R.L.K.A. 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998,Jaipur.
India Heritage Centre, Washington 2000.
11th Asian Art Biennial Dhaka (Bangladesh),2004.
Golden Jubilee Celebration of Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi 2004.
'Confluence des Arts' a group show of 100 artists at Gallery Artchill, Amber Fort , jaipur.2013
CAMPS
Camps organized by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Akademy, Aaj Group, Tulika Kalakar Parishad, South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur, North Central Zone Cultural Centre, Allahabad, International Workshop by Lalit Kala Akademy, New Delhi on the occasion of 10th Triennale-India at Chennai, 2001, AIFACS 2002 at New Delhi, Mayo College Ajmer 2003, Sanskrit Academy, Jaipur in 2004, Juneja Art Gallery, Jaipur in 2005, Urusvati & ONGC, Mumbai in 2005, National Artists'' Camp by Lalit Kala Akademy & South Culture Center, Thanjavar, Ooty in 2006 and The Grand Laxmi Vilas Palace art camp, Udaipur in 2006.
COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi, College of Art, New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, Great Eastern Shipping Corporation, Mumbai, Modern Art Gallery, Jaipur, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, Pesticides (India) Limited, Udaipur, West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur, Chandigarh Museum, Chandigarh, Air India, Mumbai, South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur, South Central Zone Cultural Center, Nagpur, Galenbara Art Museum, Japan.