Media Reviews on my Work

002. 34’’x34’’, Acrylic on canvas, Untitled.

Times of India, Bangalore, Friday, June 29, 2007
Windows Into Imagination

Krishna Pulkundwar’s Embracing the Mystic Abstract is a mélange of his vision concerning the natural and urbane. The 25 renderings of acrylic on canvas use a rich and varied palette. He uses monochrome backgrounds of black, ochre, military green and rich burgundy in most canvases and creates gentle impressions on them, almost like fabric.
All the paintings have frames with-in frames, like windows into his imagination. “As a child I liked visiting rivers and was fascinated by the reflection of shallow water, the textures of wood, stones and leaves. These developed into my frames of reference, and manifest themselves as windows and boxes in my work,” says Pulkundwar. The smaller canvases seem to have pairs in the larger frames with inverted colours and composition, managing a delicate balance. Another striking feature is the profusion of vertical lines and geometric movement in almost all paintings, “I’m from a tiny village in Maharashtra and now lives in Mumbai, so the amalgam of Nature and city life are mirrored in my work. Rusted doors, Old temple walls and vertical sky rises are interlinked playfully in my paintings,” says the artist.
Three pieces stand out for their unbridled joie de vivre with their psychedelic blues, fluorescent reds, and short brush strokes in many hues, almost like a bouquet. “These were inspired by the textures of petals and were painted during Holi.
As my neighbours were dousing each other with bright colours, I was splashing them on canvas,” he says. Two large paintings also have a network of channels that almost seem like the meandering mazes of urban life, while some have layers within each other, like delving into the different levels of the artist’s consciousness.
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003. 46’’x46’’, Acrylic on canvas, Untitled.

Bombay Times, Mumbai, July 31, 2008
When Hope Is The Cure...

What is it about ‘art’ that captures the viewer? Artists from across the continent would say its ‘hope’. Nimisha Tiwari finds out more When its cold and unnerving out there, all we need is a hand of hope,” say bubbly, cheerful yet feeble children who have been battling a life-threatening ailment like cancer. In their happiest moments and also their saddest, each child would inadvertently reach out to a box of crayons to draw his/her sights of pleasure and pain. And that’s the cue which set the ball rolling for a group of 20 artists including Ajay De, Amrutraj Koban, AV Ilango, Charan Sharma, Gautam Mukherjii, Gazala Chinwalla, Krishna Pulkundwar, Nayanaa Kanodia, Nimisha Sharma, Pandurang Tathe, Raja Segar, Ravi Mandlik, Sachin Jaltare, Samir Mondal, Satish Gupta, Shankar Kendale, Sudhir Talmale, Suman Roy, Vrundavan Solanki and Yashwant Shirwadkar, who recently contributed their collective creative works themed ‘Hope and Cheer’ in support of children who are fighting cancer. Curator Pravina Mecklai who hosted this group show was not only moved by this act but also swore to do her concrete bit in bringing some cheer for the affected children. Supporting the Indian Cancer Society, this initiative brought forth art forms brimming with brightness, creativity and warmth. The participating artists were only too gung-ho about doing their bit for the children.

Artist Krishna Pulkundwar, who has lived his primary years in the rural parts of Maharashtra, derived inspiration from the flora around. “Nature in its bounty has always inspired me,” he says. Presenting and abstract painting, we asked Krishna how a child would be able to decipher this? “Children can understand various aspects to great unknown depths. In my abstract depiction, I have taken a rural texture to form the concrete basis for an urban world. When there is balance, there is success and thus there is hope,” the artist explains.
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004. 12’’x12’’, Acrylic on canvas, Untitled.

Saffron art café article, November, 2007
An exhibition of paintings by Krishna Pulkundwar

The vibrant colours, sharp forms and sophisticated compositions are the hallmarks of artist Krishna Pulkundwar’s creations. Coming from a small village in Maharashtra, his inspirations are from nature. The reflections and movements on water in shallow ponds, the stones gleaming under the ripples, the feel and fabric of flowers and petals all reflect in his works. He portrays his love for nature through his new series of works ‘InspiRED Windows’ at Mumbai based Jamaat gallery that continues till December 1, 2007. His artistic inspirations also come from the textured walls of an aging structure. The walls are man-made, but the ravages on it are from nature. These variants in texture and surfaces fascinate him. His works have sharp lines demarcating his canvas. They separate the vibrant planes of colours, which are so interestingly textured on his canvas. It’s a joyous meeting of two distinct effects - the rural and the urban. The artist has composed these paintings in windows - like a frame within a frame. This is how he looks at the diverse worlds, keeping things in perspective.An artist who is also a teacher (he teaches at the JJ Institute of Art), Krishna Pulkundwar is devoted to art. Born in 1971, he completed his B.F.A. (Applied Art) from Govt. School of Art, Aurangabad. Among his significant solo shows are the ones at Jamaat, Mumbai. 2007, Time and Space, art Gallery, Bangalore. 2007, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. 2006, Legacy Art Gallery, Mumbai 2005; Bajaj Art Gallery, Mumbai 2003, and Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai 1999. Having moved from his idyllic childhood village home for the city of Mumbai, he was overawed by the high rises and the sky scraping towers. His open childhood vistas were now framed by the windows of his city space. Once he arrived in the city, his perception changed; his perspective had shifted. The artist looks to use these two influences so strong in his mind and heart - the textures inspired by nature as well as the strong geometrics of the city.
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005. 46’’x46’’, Acrylic on canvas, Untitled.

Hindustan Times, Mumbai, April 27, 2008
Breathing colours

Being a commercial art teacher his first passion remains canvas painting by applying various mediums and experimenting with the art with his own unique ideas. Krishna Pulkundwar has now become well known name in the field of fine as well as applied art in India as well as abroad. Now the resident of Navi Mumbai Kharghar revels his aesthetic journey in the field of art. From morning till 5 in the evening this artist plays the role of teacher in J.J School of Art and after that he becomes his own and indulges himself in his self created world of colours. However Krishna sir modestly admits that college students and the environment there plays vital role in his inspiration. He loves to teach as well and further added “out of 100 percent 10 % knowledge is gained by my students and I receive 90 % from them as they have brilliant ideas and intelligent doubts”
Talking about art according to Krishna worthiness of an art or painting depends upon the journey of an artist in the field along with the consistency, novelty and experiments with several mediums and all these factors constructs the composition of the art presented by an artist. From his initial days he used to draw landscapes gradually he shifted to modern or abstract paintings. He explained “after certain years of my landscape drawing I realised that whatever I am doing is emulating the nature or whatever exist thus decided to shift my interest towards the modern or abstract as I want to create my own identity and style”. He further added that his paintings are created for every individual and they can ask for whatever meaning from it, understanding my art differs from person to person and his view points”.
Talking about his landscape paintings he revels that he is originally from Khadhar located in Maharashtra state. His native place is blessed with ‘Bedar fort’ (which is listed as one of most beautiful forts in Maharashtra) even Krishna said he is very much in love with that fort actually this artist is fond of structures. Whenever I see any structure, be it historical or modern or ordinary he immediately starts his journey beyond time. He started thinking what would be the future of this structure or what past it must be having and other ‘n’ number of things is started thinking. And these thinking processes leads him to the different derivation and ways from where he collects his colours and than paint it just for the sake of pure platonic pleasure.
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006. 34’’x34’’, Acrylic on canvas, Untitled.

Deccan Herald, Bangalore, July 3, 2007
Abstract

Krishna Pulkundwar, a youngish painter from Mumbai, calls his exhibition at Time & Space (June 28 to July 4) “Embracing the Mystic Abstract”. Just the fact that abstraction as such cannot be defined in its references does not necessarily make it mystical. Actually, the prevailing impact of his acrylics on canvas is one of simple yet indulgent design. The artist plays with combinations of heavily textured abstract brushing and clear, rectangular planar divisions.There is an effort to impregnate the whole with vibrancy and a sense of atmosphere being enclosed in an architectural geometry with window or door-like framing, shifting building blocks and symmetrical close-ups. One may even guess the memory of nature behind some of it. All of it, however, remains on the surface of things, as attentions is paid mainly to an easy attractiveness of thick colours and, more yet, to designing. A comparatively better impact is achieved when the artist loosens up and intensifies his brushing over limited motifs seen at a proximity and almost freed from the geometric pattern. ________________________________________________

007. 46’’x46’’, Acrylic on canvas, Untitled.

Beautiful People, Mumbai, November-December 2007
Red Naturally

Inspired by nature, Krishna Pulkundwa’s work is bright, bold and definitive
The first thing that strikes you about the works of Krishna Pulkundwar as you walk into Jamaat is the warm red colour. Interjected with orange, brown, black and occasional shades of blue, the ruby hues streak the white walls of the gallery. Inspired Windows is the young artists’ most current body of work. it’s abstract, sharp, bold and definitive.
Entirely inspired by nature, Krishna’s art has always been his interpretation of the natural world around him. His early works like Old Manali House and Old House and Trees were predominantly landscapes – subdued village scenes and rural figurative works. Inspired Windows on the other hand, is an outrage of colour and depth. His move to the city coupled with his growing maturity and confidence as an artist is what perhaps led to this dramatic shift in style and form. The artist himself simply describes the shift as a need for change. Krishna is inspired by the textures of leaves, wood and rocks and his art showcases these subtleties of nature through structured frames or windows. His present body of work is a sophisticated combination of abstraction and symmetry, washed in bright, warm colours.
Krishna is turned on by nature – reflections and movements on water in shallow ponds, stones gleaming under the ripples, the colour of the under bark of a jackfruit tree in the monsoon, and most of all the feel and fabric of flowers and petals. “Inspirations also come from the textured walls of an ageing structure. The walls are man-made, but the ravages on it are from nature. Similarly with rusty metal – man makes the metal, nature gives it the patina,” he says. These variants in texture and surface, inspired by nature fascinate him. Even his technique is inspired by his experience with nature. As a child he used to go to the river where he saw rocks and weeds through the water, creating transparent images. Krishna uses acrylic the way he would use water-colours so that despite the use of multiple layers, the base texture and colour on the canvas are still visible.
All untitled, his paintings are differentiated by the images they invoke in the viewers’ minds. The strong lines on his canvas are indicative of the geometry of the city in which he now lives. Some are splashes of colour and look like Holi in Springtime. Others are warmer, and the glow of orange and gold bring Diwali and Autumn to mind.
Inspired Windows will be on display until the 1st of December 2007,at the Jammat art gallery, Colaba, Mumbai.
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