Appaneravanda Kiran Subbaiah's Sculptures

        A new form and style of contemporary sculptures, introduced and given to the world of ART by Mr. A.KIRAN SUBBAIAH from Mysore, Karnataka State (South India). It is the first and the only Museum in the WORLD to exhibit more than 200 multisided sculptures of a single sculptor.             

        Somewhere around A.D. 1808-1809, an unknown French sculptor had carved a double sided life size statue on a hard brownish wood (sycamore, hare wood family) depicting the good (female) and the evil (male) which is now at the Salarjung museum at Hyderbad, India. A few others may have also carved such double sided sculptures in temple art or other places in the world which have not been highlighted.

        But whatever it be, they were called ‘Double sided sculptures’. And now Mr. Kiran Subbaiah calls them as 2 in 1 sculptures and has carved a total number of 76 sculptures of 2 in 1, which no other sculptor has carved in the world either in the past or in the present.

        Apart from 2 in 1 sculptures, he has also carved 3 in 1 (47 no’s), 4 in 1 (83 no’s), and 5 in 1 (6 no’s) which no other sculptor in the world has achieved. The sum total of all these multisided sculptures carved in 212 as on November 2014. The subjects and titles are of different nature and types when looked at from different angles and perspectives which many sculptors or painters have not dealt with. Instead of carving these statues in a totally abstract form, he carves them in a more figurative type where even common people can understand its hidden meaning.  
        
        In these so called MULTISIDED SCULPTURES, each side is carved in such a way, that the subject on one side does not clash or interfere with the subject or subjects on the other side or sides. Each side is independent and complete on its own, maintaining the aesthetic essence of different forms in varied styles, patterns and techniques. That’s the speciality of this form of sculptures.          

        In this artistic deviation from the normal style and to create these “MULTISIDED SCULPTURES”, one has to have an abundant sense of ideas, conception and the mercurial capacity to think, compose, visualize and to project his innermost thought and feeling in an artistic and composed manner. His mind should also be like a machine gun ready to fire on different sides and conjure varied images at short notice AND IF these qualities are there in a sculptor, then instead of doing 2, 3, 4, or 5 different statues in the round using 2, 3, 4, or 5 different stones (or any other medium), he can do it all using only one stone, THEREBY saving on using lesser raw materials, lesser space required to display them and also on the time and labour consumed.          

         Incidentally, the record breaking statue of Lord Adishesha (5’ 1½ “ht) the serpent god with 135 hoods is also being carved by Mr. Kiran Subbaiah, which could also find a place in the Record Books. The present record is of that at the Pashupathi temple in Nepal (108 heads). Luckily, about this achievement or the work, both the VISUAL and the PRINT MEDIA noticed it and gave wide publicity in the year 2008. This was so, because an important man in the PRINT AND VISUAL MEDIA took special interest, because if this sculpture was to get a buyer, he was to get a percentage on its sale. But this was not the case about MULTISIDED SCULPTURES as these were not for sale, and hence no much publicity.          

        Be that as it may, to BELIEVE IT OR NOT, one must visit his wonderful museum at Mysore, to get to know his selfless and sincere sacrifice to art, his dedication to work tirelessly, irrespective of very many hurdles in his life, and to see his expertise and unlimited sense of imagination and versatility in dealing with umpteen varieties of themes, forms and subjects executed with untiring vigor and passion. AND ALL THIS he has done it as a FREE LANCER without any monetary assistance (honorarium or any form of grants) from either the State or Central Governments, nor ShilpaKala Academy or any private sponsors, and not even the Mysore City Corporation has waived aside the property tax on his building and the Museum. And now, since this year (2014), he will be sixty four (64) yrs old (39 yrs in the field of sculpture) it is becoming a bit difficult to maintain, furnish and to expand his MUSEUM, as it is totally overcrowded and expensive to maintain, which is nearly Rs 1,50,000 and odd per year…apart from meeting other personal expenses, raw materials etc. And even to enter the Guinness Book of World Records will cost a lot of money. As such he is prepared to dispose one or two pieces of sculpture every year, if offered a suitable price.          

        A few photos of “Multisided Sculptures” and a glimpse of the ‘Museum’ can be viewed in this website AND lastly; a few of his works can also be seen in YouTube by clicking the links mentioned in this website.