Shri Avtarjeet Dhanjal (Sculptor)
was conferred with
Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi Sanmaan 2017
by
Shri V P Singh Badnore, Honorable Governor of Punjab
and Shri Navjot Singh Sidhu, Honorable Minister for Tourism, Culture and Local Bodies, Punjab
at the Dr. M S Randhawa Auditorium, Punjab Kala Bhawan
Sector 16 B, Chandigarh
on 19th April 2017
Shri V P Singh Badnore, Honorable Governor of Punjab, conferring Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi Sanmaan upon Shri Avtarjeet Dhanjal, Diwan Manna, President, Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi applauds.
Shri Navjot Singh Sidhu, Honorable Minister for Tourism, Culture and Local Bodies, Punjab, handing over the Plaque to Shri Avtarjeet Dhanjal on the occasion of Shri Dhanjal being conferred with Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi Sanmaan. Satinder Satti (left), Chairperson Punjab Arts Council and Diwan Manna (right), President, Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi applaud.
Kewal Dhaliwal, President Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sarabjit Kaur Sohal, President Punjab Sahit Akademi, Diwan Manna President Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi in the audience.
Avtarjeet Singh Dhanjal
Sculptor, thinker and writer
Personal Details:
- Born on 10th April, 1940 in a small village, Dalla, in District Ludhiana, Panjab, India; in the house of carpenter and craftsman.
- After the High School, 1955-65, worked as a carpenter, sign-writer, before joining the Arts School at Chandigarh.
- His first wood carvings were immediately (1966) purchased by the Chandigarh Museumhttp://chdmuseum.nic.in/, encouraged him to venture into large works in various mediums.
- Again (1968) his large sculpture about space travel, happened to be immediately after the launch Apollo 8, was also purchased by the Chandigarh Museum.
- After completing his education (1970) in Sculpture we left India to travel in East Africa, when he traveled and exhibited his works on paper in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Ethiopia, and landed with a teaching job at the Kenyatta University College in Nairobi.
- Not satisfied with the easy job of teaching he left (1974) to study further at the St Martin’s School of Art, London.
- Lived in London 1975-1987 and moved to Ironbridge in 1987, where he still lives and works.
Current Research and Conceptual Projects:
- Present Research – What is time, why it matter to us?
- Searching for Light – In continuation of series of works in Slate & Candles, alluding to the dark nights in the village, where I grew up in India, present work using camera as a tool to capture the spirit of the dark nights in black and white images.
- Limitless – “Where scientist’s logic stops, the artist’s” intuition picks up’. Through my new work on paper and in my writing I am exploring the limitlessness of the space in art in the universe. I am using artist’s intuition to imagine the limitlessness of the universe. I am using the same intuition that was used by Democritus and Anaxagoras to postulate their theory of nuclear structure.
Publications
- Light over the Horizon – Journey of an Artist, 2012, EU-MAN Publication
- ‘Beyond the Object’ 2009; A assessment of the situation and statement of intent for the new works since the 1997 inIVA show in London.
- Avtarjeet Dhanjal by Bryan McAvera, inIVA Publication, London.
- Fire, Water, Stone & Space 2002; Placing the recent works in context, a supplement to inIVA Publication.
- Regular column ‘Last Drop’ in ‘Universal Colours’ Helsinki, Finland
Lectures and Seminars
2013 ‘Interpretation of Reality’ at KOUFAR PLASTILINA, 2nd International Week of Plastic Arts, National University of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus;
2009 ‘Beyond the Object’ at Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, Chandigarh, India;
1998 Keynote Paper for the Seminar ‘Shaping Histories – Imagining Futures’ at UNESCO Conference on Culture & Development, March 31, 1998, Stockholm.
1990 Series of lectures at the University of Sao Paulo, organized by the Museu Arte Contemporanea, Sao Paulo, Brazil September-October 1990
1985 Participation in ‘Shaping a Future: The Arts in World in Crisis’ International Symposium on the Arts, April 1985.
Scores of Talk given at the various universities internationally, and participated in international seminars worldwide.
EXHIBITIONS
2013 Beyond the Object, one person show at Hayward Gardens Gallery, Cardiff, Wales;
2013 Installation ‘Space Bellow’ at KOUFAR PLASTILINA, 2nd International Week of Plastic Arts, National University of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus;
1997 Survey show organized by Institute of International Visual Arts, London held at the Pitshanger Manor Museum, London
1995 Freedom Exhibition for Amnesty International at Glasgow Museum, Baths Gallery Belfast, City Gallery Southampton
1991 Participated in ‘the South of the World’ show at Galleria Civica d’arte Contemporanea, Marsala, Sicily.
1989 Participated in ‘the Other Story’ at the Hayward Gallery, London.
1983 Show at Springe Museum, Springe, Germany.
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
1999 Commission for Thorpe Meadow Millennium Youth Hostel, Peterborough (uncompleted)
1998 Commission for Swan Bank, Coventry Canal, Coventry.
Commission for Emslie Horniman Pleasance, London
Invited to exhibit at Palais de Nations, Geneva September 1999
1997 Developed the master plan for Farm Park, (12 acre inner city Park) Birmingham. (Not materialised)
1996 Commission for Cartwright Hall, Bradford
1992-96 Lead Sculptor for Maltings Park, a ten acre space for the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, a conceptual piece of sculpture that will weave through the whole park.
1992 Installation ‘Five Thousand Candles for Justice’ at the Parque Ibrapuera for the Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
1991 An environmental sculpture for the city of Chandigarh, India
1989 Public sculpture for Senneley’s Park in Birmingham.
1983 ’83 Steps’ at Margam Park, South Wales.
1987 Invited participant in Intl. competition for Galton Valley, Birmingham. (not materialised)
1986 Public sculpture, ‘Dunstall Henge’ at Peace Green, Wolverhampton.
1985 Two installations for St. Louis Arts Festival. ’15 Floating Flames’ at the Grand Basin in the City Park and ‘Peace Maker’ in Maryland Plaza.
1981 Public Sculpture for Bodicote House, Banbury, Oxon.
1977 Sculpture for University of Warwick
Selected Bibliography
- ‘Fire, Water & Stone’ by S. Hourahane, Ryusei ikebana, Japan p 13-17 Aug.1991.
- ‘Worlds meet in Dhanjal’s Art’ by C. Andrea, The Christian Science Monitor, 7.1.91 p 10.
- ‘Acontece’ by Alvaro Machado, Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil 6.10.1990 p.f11.
- ‘Homeland Foundland’ by S. Hourahane, the Third Text London 8/9 1989 p 165-172.
- ‘Art in Action’ by Bill Lonsdale, Landscape Design London, Oct. 1987 p 24-27.
- ‘Peace through Sculpture’ by Victor Volland, St. Louis Post Dispatch 28.3.1985 p.16a.
- ‘Avtarjeet Dhanjal’ by Shelagh Hourahane, Sculpture in a Country Park, 1983, Welsh Sculpture Trust, p 84-87.
- ‘Hrastovi Mostovi Pod Gorjanci’ by Jelka Sprogar, 7d’ Ljublijana Sep. 1982, p 8-10
- ‘A Punjabi Sculptor in London’ by Arpana Cour Indian Express, 11,11,1978 p 5.
- ‘Sculptures that Sways in the Breeze’ by Asif Khan, Morning Echo New Delhi 3.10.1978.
TV AND RADIO COVERAGE:
- ‘Stories of Art’ BBC1BBC 19.9.1993
- ‘Contemporaries a documentary by Channel Four, 5.3.1987.
- ‘Open Studio’ a 30 minute interview by Harold Fouks on BBC Radio Shropshire