# Riyas Komu

Riyas Komu is an Indian multimedia artist and curator based in Mumbai. He has invested his time in art education and developing art infrastructure in India. Komu's works are inspired by social conflicts and political movements and topics like migration and displacement. His hyper-realistic oil portraits of people resemble socialist-realist propaganda art, with one of his portraits titled Why Everybody should Look Like Mao.
In 2007, Komu was one of two artists from India selected for the 52nd Venice Biennale by curator Robert Storr. Later, he went on to represent the Iranian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2015. Komu also participated in the Jogja Biennale, Indonesia, 2011.

## Early life

Riyas completed his Bachelors & Masters in Painting from the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai in 1999. He is the Ideator of Kochi- Muziris Biennale and co-founder of Kochi-Muziris Biennale Foundation that established in 2010. He co-curated the first edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2012 and has been the Director of Programmes of the Kochi Biennale Foundation in the year of 2012, 2014 and 2016 and in this capacity, he has initiated the Students' Biennale, Children's Biennale (later named as ABC, Art by Children), Artists Cinema, Music of Muziris, Video Lab, Let's Talk series & History Now like Talks and Seminars, Pepper House Residency & Exhibition.

## Initiatives

Riyas been the Advisor and Visual Arts Curator for Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa in 2016 & 2017 and he has done extensive research trips in sub-continent and conceptualized and curated the 'Young Sub-Continent' project in 2016, 17 & 18 in Goa. He also curated the Kondotty Sufi Festival in 2019. In 2016 he started URU Art Harbour, a cultural hub in Mattancherry, Kochi, (Kerala) and curated shows which promote artists from the region focusing on Local Culture, Kerala's history of social action, Human migration and Maritime History. Uru Art Harbour also provides a well-supported artist in residency which includes exhibition and also engages with international artists. Komu co-curated first International Football Film Festival in India at Goa International Film Festival and Trivandrum International Film Festival in 2012. As an artist, he has many solo shows to his credit which includes, Faith Accompli, Mark Him, Related List, Safe to Light, Holy Shiver & Out of Place. Komu's works have been exhibited globally including South Africa, Brazil, France, Germany, UK, Italy, Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, USA, China, UAE, Belgium, The Netherlands and Iran among others.

## Exhibitions

* 2011
       Inde, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
       Contemporary Art from India, Helsinki Art Museum – The Tennis Palace, Helsinki, Finland
* 2010
       INSIDE INDIA, Palazzo Saluzzo di Paesana, Torino, Italy
       Midnight's Children, Studio la Città, Verona, Italy
       Beyond Globalization, Beyond Art Space, Beijing, China
       Subrato to Cesar by Riyas Komu, Gallery Maskara, Maskara, Mumbai, India (solo)
       Safe to Light, Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran (solo)
* 2009
       Beyond Globalization, Beyond Art Space, Beijing, China
       Arco Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
       Threshold: Forging Narratives in South Asian Contemporary Art, Aicon Gallery, New York City
       Indian Popular Culture and beyond Alcala' 31, Madrid, Spain
       Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
* 2008
       Bodhi Berlin, Berlin, Germany (solo)
       MARK HIM (Second half), Gallery 88, Kolkata, India (solo)
       The Ghost of Souza, inaugural show in Bowery space, Aicon Gallery, New York City
       India Crossing, Studio la Città, Verona, Italy
       Frontlines: Notations from the Contemporary Indian Urban, Bodhi Berlin, Berlin, Germany
* 2007–2008
       India Arte Oggi, Spazio Oberdan, Milan, Italy
* 2007
       FRAME/GRID/ROOM/CELL, curated by Gayatri Sinha, Bodhi Art, Mumbai, India
       Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
       I Fear, I believe, I desire, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India
       Other, AICON Gallery, London, UK
       Annual show, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India
       52 International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
       Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense, 52nd International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale
       MARK HIM (First half), The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
* 2006
       Systematic Citizen, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, India (solo)
       Faith Accompli, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
       Bronze, sculpture show, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, India
       Art on the beach. Made by Indians, Plage de Pamplonne, Ramatuelle, St. Tropez, France
       On Difference #2, Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany
       Singapore Art Fair, Singapore
       Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
       Red Earth And The Pouring Rain, Lanxess ABS Gallery, Baroda, India
       Viart, New Delhi, India
       Strangeness, Anant Art Gallery, Kolkatta, India
* 2005
       Span, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Endless Terrain, Lalit Kala Academy, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, India
       Double-Enders, Jehangir Art Gallery and Museum Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Present Future, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
       Configurations, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
       Are we like this only?, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, India
       Whose space is it anyway?, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India
       Mannat Jali, Marine Drive, Mumbai, India
       Public Art Project, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India
       World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil
       KAAM, Aicon Gallery, New York and Palo Alto
       The Third Day, Lalit Kala Academy, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi presented by Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
       GRASS, photography show, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
* 2004
       Group show during VASL Residency, Karachi, Pakistan
       Bombay Boys, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
       A New Mediatic Realism, Bayer ABS Gallery, Baroda, India
       Generation I, Saffron Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Mumbai x 17, Kashi Art Gallery, Cochin, India
       Anticipations, Jehangir Art Gallery and Museum Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       RED, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
* 2003
       Sarasu, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
       Unconditional, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
       Hilights, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India
       2D/3D, Visual Art Center, Hong Kong
       Ideas and Images, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
       Art for Art/Switzerland meets India, Kalaghoda Art Festival, Mumbai, India
       Crossing Generations :Diverge, 40 years of Gallery Chemould, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
       Sarasu, photography show on Raja Ravi Verma Press, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
       UNCONDITIONAL, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
* 2002–2003
       AMBULANCE, Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalor, Indiae (solo)
       Ambulance, Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore, India (solo)
* 2002
       Asian Art Festival, Singapore
       Harmory Shows (2004–1999), Nehru Center, Mumbai, India
       Tribute to Picasso, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Ways of Resisting 1992– 2002, Sahmat/ Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, India
       Creative Space, Sakshi Gallery and India Habitat Center, New Delhi, India
       Words and Images, Guild Art Gallery and National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
       Creative Space, Sakshi Gallery and India Habitat Center, New Delhi, India
       Harmory Shows (2004–1999), Nehru Center, Mumbai, India
       New Delhi Crosscurrents, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Engendering Images of Women, Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Excerpts from my diary, Fine Art Company, Mumbai, India
       The Human Factor, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
* 2000
       Mumbai Metaphor, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Mumbai Metaphor, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Exile Longings, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
       Memos of the New Millennium – Artists from the Moulting World, Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Mumbai, India
       Ideas and Images, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
       Moulting World, Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Mumbai
* 1999
       Critics Choice, Ideas and Images, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
* 1998
       He used to believe that EMS planted coconut tree in Kerala, installation, Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, India

## Awards

* K. K. Hebbar Foundation Society Scholarship 1997 to 1999
* Bombay Art Society Award 1996
* Maharashtra State Art Prize 1995
* 'Critic's Choice' at NGMA 1999