Chelsea, New York
Krishna Reddy
Heaven in a Wildflower
Print Center New YorkKrishna Reddy: Heaven in a Wildflower is the first monographic exhibition in New York on the late Indian artist Krishna Reddy in over 40 years. The exhibition is curated by Sarah Burney in collaboration with an advisory committee of Reddy's close colleagues and presents over 50 prints alongside key sculptures, ephemera, and working materials on loan from the artist's estate, demonstrating Reddy's material and conceptual approach to the groundbreaking viscosity printmaking technique he developed in the 1950s and 60s. Krishna Reddy (1925–2018) is best known as a master intaglio printmaker who pioneered the technique of viscosity printing, which allows for multi-colored images to be achieved from a single printing plate. Heaven in a Wildflower highlights this innovation by examining the philosophical foundations of the artist's kaleidoscopic, inventive approach to his creative practice. Contextualizing his prints with drawings, sculptures, and the artist's own retrofitted tools and working materials, the exhibition centers on the major themes explored in Reddy's work. On view are works from across several decades that highlight how Reddy's viscosity technique achieved sculptural variations of color and form in his abstract and semi-abstract prints. The exhibition emphasizes how this experimental approach to printmaking reflects Reddy's desire to explore interconnectedness in the world and examine the intrinsic essence of beings, materials, and ideas. Born in Nandanoor, Reddy was a student of renowned philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Rishi Valley School and later Rabindranath Tagore’s alternative art college Visva-bharati, now Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan in West Bengal. In 1949, Reddy traveled to Europe to further his artistic education at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. Later, Reddy joined Stanley William Hayter’s experimental printmaking studio Atelier 17, where he eventually became co-director. In 1976, Reddy moved to New York to establish the printmaking department at New York University and became deeply involved with Robert Backburn’s workshop.