KP Pradeepkumar

Pradeepkumar’s artistic practice predominantly focuses on the various visceral relationships between Nature and the Self - a being present in different times and geographies. Delusion, destitution, existential anxiety of eviction, deportation from a territory are just some of the issues he addresses in his intensely linear drawings and paintings, wherein nature and homo sapiens seem to emerge, merge out and into each other simultaneously. Through his oeuvre, KP Pradeepkumar delves into subject matters like territoriality and re-territorialisation, the constitution of monotony through various behavioural patterns, landscapes and their representations. He is a vociferous reader; philosophical thoughts and points of view on cultural practices present solutions and as well as open his mind to understanding his own role as an artist within his surroundings. In a larger sense, Pradeepkumar’s artistic practice symbolically demarcates a space for co-existence and interdependencies through the process of image-making and materiality at multiple levels. As the artist himself says, - “My paintings are an outcome of my obsession with nature”. In his works, it is fascinating to see how he uses metaphors of illusion, perception, speed, change and inconsistencies - common threads that vigorously course through his brilliant, sensitive, if precarious paintings. Nuanced, philosophical and poetic, his artistic practice is one that navigates the omnipresence of the protagonist as he employs mixed media of pen and ink, watercolour on paper, pencil drawings to build layers of thematic connectedness with the Self and its surrounding geographies. 

K P Pradeepkumar is an independent visual artist who has been working between Kochi and Delhi for the past several years. Born in Kozhikode, he completed his BFA in Sculpture from College of Fine Arts,Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in 1993 and pursued an MFA in Creative Practice at the TransArt Institute, New York in 2015. 

His works were exhibited at India Art Fair 2020 and 2019 by Art Centrix Space and received tremendous appreciation by viewers. He recently showcased his works at the prominent exhibition, ‘Lokame Tharavadu’ in Allepey, Kerala in 2021 curated by Bose Krishnamachari, the founder of Kochi Biennale Foundation. He has also been part of various group shows at Art Centrix Space namely ‘The Present & the Absentee Maker’ in October 2020; ‘Con Tempus|With Time’ in December 2019; ‘Arikamedu’ in November 2018 and ‘Nature | Deliberated’ in April 2018. He has been working and exhibiting in and out of the country and has received many awards for his artistic pursuits. He has done several solo shows at various galleries like ‘Improbable Suburban’ at Gallery OED, Kochi, Kerala in 2018; ‘‘Wood of Suicides’ at BC Gallery, Kochi, Kerala in 2016 and ‘Trans guration’ at David Hall, Fort Kochi, Kerala in 2011.