The Great Adventure

Born in Simla, India, in 1931, Avinash Chandra's signature use of bold color and curvaceous form merges a sophisticated understanding of line with capricious and imaginative compositions. At the precocious age of 21, Chandra was the youngest artist to be granted a solo show by the Bombay Progressives artists group and was awarded first prize in the First National Exhibition of Indian Art at the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1955. In an effort to broaden his cultural awareness and further his painting, the artist moved to London in 1956 on an art scholarship, studying at the Central School of Art, London. Changing his artistic style from structured cubistic compositions to looser more whimsical displays of color, line and figuration Chandra began to attract much well-deserved attention in the English art scene. The subject of his own 1962 BBC documentary entitled "Art of Avinash Chandra," he also became the first Indian-British artist to be featured at the Tate Gallery, London in 1965. Taking the female form as his source of inspiration, Chandra's works, which often border on the erotic, seamlessly meld the sensuality of the female form with other poetic imagery.