N N Rimzon — Biography



1957 Born in Kakkoor, Kerala

 

 Rimzon was born in Kerala in 1957. He attained a Bachelors Degree in Sculpture from the College of Fine Arts, Trivandrum, (1982), he pursued his Masters in Sculpture at M. S. University, Baroda (1984). He also received the Inlaks scholarship to pursue his further studies at the Royal College of Art, London (1989). He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Sculpture, College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram.

Rimzon has had solo shows at Art Heritage, New Delhi (1991, 1993), School's Gallery, Amsterdam (1994). Seven Young Sculptors, New Delhi (1985), 100 years of Indian Art, National Gallery of Modem Art, New Delhi (1994), Art and Nature, New Delhi (1995), The Other Self, New York and Stadelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1995), 2nd Asia Pacific Triennale, Brisbane are few of his significant works. He was also nominated for the Sotheby's Award for Contemporary Indian Art (1998).

His early works in the mid ‘70s seem to reflect the concerns emanating from the leftist and radical background in Kerala. As a result he moved away from narrative painting to experiment with conceptual sculpture.

His sculptures, arranged in an installation-like space, energised by various contradictions of size, colour, setting etc. he directs the viewer to a complex experience of his imagining. Inspired by Ram Kinker Baij, German realism and expressionist figuration, he exaggerates and then distorts his figures. He has had site specific installations, like Far Away from 108 Feet (1995), which calls for the viewer’s familiarity with Hindu social codes and effectively portrays the survival of the caste-system in India; Speaking Stones (1998) also highlights the atrocities and massacres that have been a part of Indian history post independence. His other installations like, The Tools (1993) and The Inner Voice (1992), seek to bring out the intrinsic connection between religion and violence in contemporary India.

He lives and works in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.