RICARDO MAZAL
KAILASH | BLACK MOUNTAIN
RICARDO MAZAL
KAILASH | BLACK MOUNTAIN
HONG KONG • MARCH 27 – M AY 3 • PAG ES 10 – 29 S i n ga p o r e • April 1 1 – m ay 15 • PAG ES 30 – 7 1
Ricardo Mazal in his studio, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2014
GA L L E RY M I S S I O N Established in 2000, Sundaram Tagore Gallery is devoted to examining the exchange of ideas between Western and non-Western cultures. We focus on developing exhibitions and hosting not-for-profit events that encourage spiritual, social and aesthetic dialogues. In a world where communication is instant and cultures are colliding and melding as never before, our goal is to provide venues for art that transcend boundaries of all sorts. With alliances across the globe, our interest in cross-cultural exchange extends beyond the visual arts into many other disciplines, including poetry, literature, performance art, film and music.
KAILASH
BLACK MOUNTAIN Ricardo Mazal, one of Mexico’s foremost contemporary artists, presents new paintings inspired by his journey to Mount Kailash, Tibet’s holiest summit. In 2004, the artist embarked on a trilogy examining the sacred burial rituals of three cultures, continents and time periods. His journey began at the Mayan tomb of the Red Queen in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, and continued at the Peace Forest cemetery in Odenwald, Germany. The final installment explores the sacred sky burials of Mount Kailash, where the artist performed the kora, a fifty-three-kilometer trek around the peak, and one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most sacred rituals.
The work presented in this exhibition catalogue—a multidisciplinary approach to painting that combines photography and digital technology—is a culmination of this near decade-long exploration into themes of life, death, transformation and regeneration. Ricardo Mazal merges varied observations of the natural world, such as the snow-streaked black-andwhite surface of Mount Kailash, to produce gestural, abstract paintings comprised of geometric forms. In each of his investigations, photographs have been the impetus. For Mazal, photography is a bridge that links reality to abstraction. He begins by shooting photographs, then manipulates them on the computer 7
to compose a digital sketch. He then moves onto linen, delicately layering oil paint using foam-rubber blades. To reveal luminous passages of color, Mazal sweeps a dry blade with varying degrees of pressure across the canvas. The vestiges of paint are almost embryonic in structure with faint texture and hue. At regular intervals, Mazal photographs his paintingin-progress. Returning to his computer, he creates hybrid sketches that fuse the photographs of the painting with the virtual drawing, allowing him to revisit his composition. Often, Mazal’s influences will also spring from images of previous paintings, which he incorporates into new digital sketches. It is a regenerative and cyclical process closely paralleling the themes he explores. In Hong Kong, Mazal exhibits a body of work composed of deconstructed elements from his earlier Mount Kailash paintings. More experimental than previous works, these paintings reduce familiar elements to their most elemental forms.
crowds. The exhibition features large-scale paintings, photographs, a video of his kora pilgrimage and music composed for the project by Mario Lavista, Mexico’s pre-eminent contemporary composer.
Ricardo Mazal was born in Mexico City in 1950. He has exhibited extensively in galleries and museums throughout the Americas and Europe, including the Museo Estación Indianilla, Mexico City; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico; Museo Nacional de Anthropologia, Mexico City; and the Americas Society, New York. In 2006, a retrospective of his work was held at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City. His work is included in the collections of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguerez, Zacatecas, Mexico; Maeght Foundation, Paris; Centro de las Artes, Monterrey, Mexico; Cirque du Soleil, Montreal; the Peninsula Hotel, Shanghai; and Deutsche Bank, New York and Germany. In Singapore, he presents a conceptual re-creation of his acclaimed five-month exhibition at the Museo Mazal divides his time between New York City and Estación Indianilla in Mexico City, which drew record Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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HONG KONG
Composition in Yellow, Green, Blue, and Red 2, 2014, oil on linen, 63 x 94.5 inches/160 x 240 cm
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Black Mountain MK 8, 2014, oil on linen, 40 x 40 inches/101.6 x 101.6 cm
Black Mountain MK 10, 2014, oil on linen, 40 x 42 inches/101.6 x 106.6 cm
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Composition in Greens 1, 2014, oil on linen, 71 x 73 inches/180.3 x 185.4 cm
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Black Mountain PF 3, 2014, oil on linen, 71 x 73 inches/180.3 x 185.4 cm
Black Mountain PF 4, 2014, oil on linen, 71 x 86.5 inches/180.3 x 219.7 cm
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Black Mountain MK 6, 2014, oil on linen, 63 x 94.5 inches/160 x 240 cm
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Marzo 22.13, 2013, oil on linen, 40 x 42 inches/101.6 x 106.6 cm
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Composition in Greens 4, 2014, oil on linen, 30 x 35 inches/76.2 x 88.9 cm
Composition in Greens 5, 2014, oil on linen, 30 x 35 inches 76.2 x 88.9 cm
Composition in Greens 6, 2014, oil on linen, 30 x 35 inches 76.2 x 88.9 cm
Composition in Greens 7, 2014, oil on linen, 30 x 35 inches 76.2 x 88.9 cm
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Composition in Yellow, Green, Blue, and Red 3, 2014, oil on linen, 60 x 78 inches/152.4 x 198.1 cm
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Black Mountain MK 7, 2014, oil on linen, 71 x 73 inches/180.3 x 185.4 cm
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SINGAPORE
Black Mountain MK 1, 2014, oil on linen, 98.5 x 150 inches/250.2 x 381 cm
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Composition in Greens 2, 2014, oil on linen, 71 x 73 inches/180.3 x 185.4 cm
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Black Mountain MK 12, 2014, oil on linen, 40 x 42 inches/101.6 x 106.6 cm
Black Mountain MK 11, 2014, oil on linen, 40 x 42 inches/101.6 x 106.6 cm
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Digital installation, Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore
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Black Mountain MK 2, 2014, oil on linen, 90 x 96 inches/228.6 x 243.8 cm
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Black Mountain MK 9, 2014, oil on linen, 40 x 42 inches/101.6 x 106.6 cm
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Digital installation, Black Mountain PF 1 and 2
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Black Mountain PF 1, 2014, oil on linen, 90 x 93 inches/228.6 x 236.2 cm
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Black Mountain PF 2, 2014, oil on linen, 90 x 93 inches/228.6 x 236.2 cm
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Composition in Greens 3, 2014, oil on linen, 71 x 73 inches/180.3 x 185.4 cm
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Composition in Yellow, Green, Blue, and Red 1, 2014, oil on linen, 63 x 94.5 inches/160 x 240 cm
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Digital installation, Black Mountain MK 3, 4 and 5 54
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Black Mountain MK 3, 2014, oil on linen, 66 x 98.5 inches/167.6 x 250.2 cm
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Black Mountain MK 4, 2014, oil on linen, 66 x 98.5 inches/167.6 x 250.2 cm
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Black Mountain MK 5, 2014, oil on linen, 66 x 98.5 inches/167.6 x 250.2 cm
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Prayer Flags PH1 and PH2, 2010, archival pigment ink print on paper, 35.5 x 35.5 inches/90.1 x 90.1 cm each
Prayer Flags PH4 and PH5, 2010, archival pigment ink print on paper, 35.5 x 35.5 inches/90.1 x 90.1 cm each
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Mount Kailash Cobra Crop 4, 2010, archival pigment ink print on paper, 35.5 x 53.5 inches/90.1 x 90.1 cm
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Mount Kailash Cobra Crop 2, 2010, archival pigment ink print on paper, 35.5 x 53.5 inches/90.1 x 90.1 cm
Mount Kailash Cobra Crop 3, 2010, archival pigment ink print on paper, 35.5 x 53.5 inches/90.1 x 90.1 cm
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Mount Kailash Cobra, 2010, archival pigment ink print on paper, 35.5 x 53.5 inches/90.1 x 90.1 cm
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Film stills from 22,000 Times, 2012, video, twenty minutes
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C U R R I C U L U M V I TA E Born in Mexico, 1950 Based in Barcelona, Spain, 1985-1991 Currently lives and works in New York and Santa Fe, New Mexico SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 Kailash: Black Mountain, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Singapore Kailash: Black Mountain, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2013 New Paintings, Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Canada The Kora Dialogues, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco 2012 Kailash, Museo Estación Indianilla, Mexico City Kailash, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Kailash, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills 2011 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona KORA, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2010 KORA, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York KORA, Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver Elins Eagle-Smith Gallery, San Francisco Ricardo Mazal, Pintura y Fotografia 1994-2009, Museo Abstracto Manuel Felguerez, Zacatecas, Mexico New Works, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills 2009 Ricardo Mazal, Pintura y Fotografia 1994-2009, Museum of Art, Queretaro, Mexico Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver 2008 Ricardo Mazal Odenwald 1152, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Ricardo Mazal Odenwald 1152, Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington DC 72
Dwight Hackett Projects, Santa Fe, New Mexico Elins Eagle-Smith Gallery, San Francisco 2007 Mas Art Moderno y Contemporáneo, Barcelona Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Palm Desert, California Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver 2006 Ricardo Mazal, La Tumba de la Reina Roja: From Reality to Abstraction, Centro de las Artes, Pinacoteca, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico Ricardo Mazal, La Tumba de la Reina Roja: From Reality to Abstraction, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona Ricardo Mazal, Works 1994 – 2006, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City Ricardo Mazal, Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Palm Desert, California Ricardo Mazal, New Works, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho 2005 Ricardo Mazal, La Tumba de la Reina Roja: From Reality to Abstraction, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City From Reality to Abstraction, Elins Eagle-Smith Gallery, San Francisco Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver Chiaroscuro Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona 2004 Ricardo Mazal, La Tumba de la Reina Roja: From Reality to Abstraction, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico Ricardo Mazal, Paintings and Monotypes from the Series La Tumba de la Reina Roja, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Ricardo Mazal, Obra Reciente, Mas Art Moderno y Contemporáneo, Barcelona Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan 2003 Ricardo Mazal, New Paintings, Elins and Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco Ricardo Mazal, New Monotypes, Aurobora Press, San Francisco 2002 Ricardo Mazal, Paintings from The Center for Contemporary Arts, Galería Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico Ricardo Mazal, New Paintings and Monotypes. Ricardo Mazal, Gary Mankus Collaborative Photography, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico New Paintings by Ricardo Mazal, The Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico Ricardo Mazal, Abril 15, New Paintings and Works on Paper, Galería Ramis Barquet, New York 2001 Ricardo Mazal, Galerie 89, Aarwangen, Switzerland Ricardo Mazal, New Paintings, Photographs and Drawings, Rule Gallery, Denver, Colorado Ricardo Mazal, Pintura, Fotografía, Dibujo, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City New Monotypes, Aurobora Press, San Francisco 2000 Ricardo Mazal, Obras, 1991-2000, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico Recent Paintings, Galería Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan 1999 Rule Modern and Contemporary Gallery, Denver, Colorado Erickson & Elins/Fine Art, San Francisco New Monotypes, Aurobora Press, San Francisco The E - Series, Ramis Barquet Gallery, New York Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona 1998 Ricardo Mazal, The Yellow Circle & Eve, Galería Maeght, Barcelona 1997 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona Yellow Circle Series, Rule Modern and Contemporary Gallery, Denver, Colorado Michael Dunev Gallery, San Francisco Vail-Giesler Contemporary Art, Des Moines, Iowa 1996 Ricardo Mazal, Pintura y Fotografía, Galería Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico 1994 Galería Maeght, Barcelona 1992 Ricardo Mazal, Pinturas, Dibujos, Grabados, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City 1990 Scott Alan Gallery, New York Ricardo Mazal, Pinturas, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City Ricardo Mazal, Pinturas, Galería Arte Actual Mexicano, Monterrey, Mexico 1989 Ricardo Mazal, Scott Alan Gallery, New York 1988 Huellas del Tiempo, Ricardo Mazal, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City Huellas del Tiempo, Ricardo Mazal, Galería Arte Actual Mexicano, Monterrey, Mexico Galería Nomen, Barcelona Galería Carl Van Der Voort, Ibiza 73
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2013 Natural Selection, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Natural Selection, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York A Revisiting: Ten Years of Visiting Artists, Art Students League of Denver, Colorado Home and the World, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Singapore 2012 Inside Out, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Singapore Summer Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York 2011 Spectrum: East/West/Beyond, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Continuum, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Convergence, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills Constellation, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2010 22/22 Artistas Mexicanos, Museum of Art, Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico New Creative Constructs, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Entre Medios: Contemporary Latin American Art, Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver The Reason for Hope, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills 2009 The Reason for Hope, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Summer Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong Here and Now, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York Here and Now, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong 2008 Pushing Paint Around, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona 2007 Three Americas: Robert Kelly, Ricardo Mazal, Daniel Senise, Galeria Emma Molina, Monterrey, Mexico An Eclectic Eye: Selections From the Dan Leach Collection, Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona
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2006 Miami Basel Art Fair, Elins Eagle Smith Gallery MACO, Galeria Emma Molina, Mexico City ARCO, MasArt, Madrid Chicago Art Fair, Elins Eagle Smith Gallery De la Coleción, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City 2005 Retrospective / Prospective, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho Espejos: Artistas contemporaneous de Mexico en Estados Unidos, Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington, DC Transversal: Richard Serra, Jaime Brunson, Tony Coulter, Gary Komarin, Ricardo Mazal, Jae Ko, Robischon Gallery, Denver, Colorado 2004 Ray Smith, Fernanda Brunet, Sylvia Fernandez, Ricardo Mazal y Victor Rodríguez, Galería Lucía de la Puente, Lima, Peru 2003 Paper, Ramis Barquet Gallery, New York 11/11: Eleven Painters, Eleven Views of Abstraction, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Abstract Art, New Mexico Artist Series, Anderson Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, Mexico Siglo XX: Grandes Maestros Mexicanos (The Twentieth Century: Great Mexican Masters), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico Between the Lines, Buschlen-Mowat Gallery, Palm Desert, California Paint Junkies, Michael Martin Galleries, San Francisco 2002 Arte de América Latina, (Art from Latin America), Galería Lucía de la Puente, Lima, Peru Wrapped, Evo Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Beau Geste: Abstract Paintings in Torroella di Montgrí, Michael Dunev Art Projects, Torroella de Montgrí, Girona, Spain Group Show, Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan 2001 Tendencias, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City Between the Lines, Buschlen-Mowat Gallery, Palm Desert, California Between Worlds: Jewish Artists of Latin America, Mizel Arts Center, Denver, Colorado FOUR: Selected Works by Lynda Karshan/ Ricardo Mazal/ Rex Ray/ Sophie Smallhorn, Michael Martin Galleries, San Francisco Abstracciones, Traveling exhibition in Mexico organized by the Mexican Ministry of Culture 2000 Mexico/ New York: A Vital Dialogue, The Mexican Cultural Institute, New York Paisaje Urbano, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City 1999 Inapropiadamente Dibujo, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City Today and Everyday, Ramis Barquet Gallery, New York The Conscious Line, Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho Introductions & Dialogue, Michael Martin Galleries, San Francisco 1998 4th Salon de Arte, Bancomer, Mexico City Limn Gallery, San Francisco 1997 Laura Anderson Barbata, Linda Matalon, Ricardo Mazal: Embodied Abstraction, Americas Society Art Gallery, New York Painting Group Exhibition, Megan Fox Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico Drawings and Photographs, Megan Fox Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
3er Premio MARCO (Third MARCO Prize exhibition), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico Red, Robin Rule Gallery, Denver, Colorado 1996 Modern Miniatures: The Redefining of the Small, Brewster Gallery, New York Collective: Paintings on Cloth and Paper, Ricardo Mazal, Bob Nugent, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Michael Dunev Gallery, San Francisco Premio MARCO 1996 (MARCO Prize exhibition), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico Red, Robin Rule Gallery, Denver, Colorado 1995 Premio MARCO 1995 (MARCO Prize exhibition), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico Le Noir Est un Coleur, Galería Maeght, Madrid 1994 Pinturerías: el Arte del Taurino, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico, City; traveling exhibition in Mexico, Spain and the United States 1993 The Inaugural Show, The Painting Center, New York 1992 Abstractus, Scott Alan Gallery, New York 1991 En el Umbral del Siglo XXI, Galería Maeght, Barcelona Galería Carl Van Der Voort, Ibiza, Spain 1990 Parallel Project: New Moments in Mexican Painting, New York 1989 Pintura Mexicana de Hoy, Tradición e Inovación, Centro Cultural Alfa and Galería Arte Actual Mexicano, Monterrey, Mexico 1988 Galería Nomen, Barcelona Galería Carl Van Der Voort, Ibiza, Spain 1987 Galería Angel Romero, Madrid Tom Maddock Gallery, Barcelona Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona
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AWARDS 2010 Creador Artistico, Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (FONCA) 2002, Mexico 2002 Creador Artistico, Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (FONCA) 2002, Mexico 1999 Creador Artistico, Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (FONCA) 1999, Mexico 1991 Pollock Krassner Foundation, New York COLLECTIONS Centro de las Artes, Monterrey, Mexico Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City Cirque du Soleil, Montreal MACO-UNAM, Mexico City Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona Maeght Foundation, Paris Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel FelguĂŠrez, Zacatecas, Mexico Museo de Arzobispado, Mexico City Banco de Mexico, Mexico City Deutsche Bank, New York and Germany CEMEX, Monterrey, Mexico Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York Apple Corporation, Cupertino, California Peninsula Hotel, Shanghai Private collections in the USA, Mexico, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Japan and Korea
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Ricardo Mazal’s studio, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2014
S U N D A R A M TA G O R E G A L L E R I E S new york new york hong kong singapore
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President and curator: Sundaram Tagore Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey Director, Hong Kong: Faina Derman Designer: Russell Whitehead
WWW.SUNDARAMTAGORE.COM Text © 2014 Sundaram Tagore Gallery Photographs © 2014 Ricardo Mazal
Art consultants: Teresa Kelley Bonnie B. Lee Sarah Miller Deborah Moreau Benjamin Rosenblatt Raj Sen Melanie Taylor
All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Cover: Composition in Greens 1, 2014, oil on linen, 71 x 73 inches/180.3 x 185.4 cm