Krishna Reddy (1925 - 2018) was a celebrated Indian artist, whose influence is especially palpable in the printmaking world, even today. Born in Andhra Pradesh, India, Reddy studied art under Nandalal Bose and Ramkinkar Baij at Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan school before embarking on a career spanning seven decades that would see him travel the world, forging lifelong friendships with artists from across the United States, Europe, and even Africa. Now, Experimenter Colaba is presenting Of Friendships: Krishna Reddy & His World, an exhibition exploring works created by Reddy as well as the likes of Stanley William Hayter, Mona Saudi and Gabor Peterdi, whose lives and artmaking he touched. The show started on April 5 and is on view until June 15, 2024, and is organised by Prateek and Priyanka Raja, co-founders and Directors of Experimenter. The duo joins STIR for an interview that sheds light on the legacy of viscosity printing, which is perhaps Reddy’s greatest contribution to the world of printmaking, as well as his visionary art.

Reddy’s work is steeped in a deep appreciation for nature, developed through his artistic education at Santiniketan—a major locus for Indian art—during the 1940s. However, he was also affected deeply by the horrors of the Bengal Famine (1943) and the Partition of India (1947), which built up within him a sense of empathy towards the victims of these brutal moments in Indian history. This can be evidenced through many of Reddy’s early drawings, which feature human beings that are elongated and emaciated, speaking to the plight of India’s dispossessed at the time.

After graduating from Santiniketan, Reddy spent some time in Chennai, heading the art section at Kalakshetra Foundation and teaching at the Montessori Teachers’ Training Centre before travelling, first to London, then to Milan and after that to Paris. Here, he became Associate Director of the experimental printmaking workshop Atelier 17, founded by Stanley William Hayter (1901 - 1988), alongside whom Reddy would develop simultaneous multicolour viscosity printing—or as he referred to the technique, intaglio simultaneous colour printmaking—a technique of printmaking that relies on the viscosity of multiple inks applied to a printing plate to print multiple colours from a single plate in one run. Typically, inks of thicker and thinner viscosities are layered on top of each other, ensuring only minimal mixing takes place. This leads to complex hues appearing in the finished print.

Upon developing the viscosity printing technique during the 1950s - 60s, Reddy would become the foremost proponent of the method across the world. In 1976, he moved to New York as the head of the printmaking department of New York University, by which time he had already spent considerable time holding workshops and demonstrations for artists and students. The Rajas tell STIR, "The New York art scene was familiar with his work. In addition to Paris, which was the centre of the post-war contemporary art world, Reddy made incredible connections and networks in far-flung places such as Eastern Europe and North Africa. He was a lifelong pedagogue and an experimenter, which was reflected in how New York and especially his studio in SoHo became the epicentre of creative practice and experiments with this absolutely pathbreaking technology. From being close associates with other artists’ friends and practitioners like Bob Blackburn and Zarina Hashmi, Reddy influenced and transmitted his technology and knowledge over generations of artists thereafter.”

Reddy made incredible connections and networks in far-flung places such as Eastern Europe and North Africa. He was a lifelong pedagogue and an experimenter... – Kit Brooks, The Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art and Frank Feltens, Curator of Japanese Art

Coming to Reddy’s art, the works that the contemporary artist produced through his printmaking technique spoke deeply to his reverence for nature, while his drawings display a fascination with the human form. As the Rajas explain, his New York apartment is filled with such sketches, exploring details of limbs and human postures. The gallery directors link Reddy’s approach towards different mediums through his early artistic education, telling STIR, “What Reddy’s early days in Santiniketan taught him was that everything in the world was simultaneous and not singular, that there are a multitude of forms, of influences, of points of views and ways to see the world around oneself and that everything in nature has a symbiotic relationship.”

Through his learnings at Santiniketan, Reddy would embrace both symmetry as well as spontaneity within his practice, lending his work a distinctly natural quality. He produced a sizeable body of work during his lifetime, many pieces of which are currently on display for audiences at Krishna Reddy & His World, alongside works by the many artists he influenced and was in turn influenced by. The exhibition is an important step in keeping viscosity printmaking alive, as well as the legacy of a pathbreaking artist who spent his life learning, experimenting and creating.

‘Of Friendships: Krishna Reddy & His World’ is on view from April 5 - June 15, 2024, at Experimenter Colaba.