Post-war contemporary painter Rajan Krishnan was born in 1967 in Kerala, on the southern west coast of India. Holding a BA in Economics from Calicut University in Kerala, Krishnan later devoted himself to artistic creation. He received a BFA in Painting from the Government College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram in 1994, and a MFA in Painting from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1996. His work has been featured in galleries around the world, including India, the US, Singapore, United Kingdom, France and more. The artist passed away in 2016.

Krishnan’s work centered on the natural environment. The fields and villages of Kerala of his youth play a principal role in his artistic creation. Mango, sparrow, jackfruit tree, pineapple, railway track, red flags, protestors in demonstrations are common imageries that can be found in his paintings. His early works depict his childhood memories, which later give way to a cynicism that records the environmental degradation caused by rampant urbanization. The balance between humanity and its habitats has remained the primary focus of his work.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

Little Black Drawings, Kashi Art Gallery, Kochi, India, 2004
Enroute, Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai, India, 2006
Art Singapore 2006, Bodhi Art, Singapore, 2006
Memoir, Bodhi Art, New York, USA, 2007
Ore / Substances of Earth-I, Bodhi Space, Mumbai, India, 2008
RE-VISIT, OED Basement, Kochi, 2008
Four Paintings, Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai, India, 2009
Ancestry, Aicon Gallery, New York, USA, 2011
Retrospective, Durbar Hall Art Centre, Ernakulam, Kochi, India, 2018
Rajan Krishnan | A Retrospective, Aicon Gallery, New York, USA, 2018