News
13 February 2009
ILLYCAFFÈ AT ARCO 2009 - WINNER ILLY SUSTAINART PRIZE
illy sustainArt Observatory:
the social network for artists, curators and art critics from emerging countries
Arco - COntemporary ARt Fair of Madrid
11-16 febbraio 2009
Avinash Veeraraghavan, winner of the illy SustainArt Prize
The prize – created by illycaffè in collaboration with ARCO - the COntemporary ARt Fair of Madrid, which has India as this year’s guest nation – is dedicated to young Indian artists under the age of 35. The aim of the prize is to extend the company’s approach to a sustainable growth to the international artistic community, offering opportunities for visibility and market exposure to all emerging artists from coffee-producing countries from which illy buys the raw material.
Madrid, 13 February 2009 – The illy SustainArt Prize was awarded this morning at Arco 2009 to the Indian artist Avinash Veeraraghavan represented by Galleryske.
The jury – comprised of two independent curators - experts in Indian art - Bose Krishnamachari and María Inés Rodríguez and the art director of illycaffè Carlo Bach - motivated its decision as follows “The Deafening of Avinash’s work represents co-existence of maximum extremity in one space, its visuals can be read through like a camera, zoom in and zoom out! Magical realism drifted by abstract transferred into indigenous shout of the recognizable, very contemporary and performing!”
The artist will receive a prize of 15,000 Euros and the chance of presenting a project for the production of a series of art coffee cups for the illy Art Collection, which the company has been promoting for more than 15 years, with the involvement of leading and emerging talents at international level.
BIOGRAPHY: Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, 1980
Education: post-school program, Centre For Learning, Bangalore under the guidance of Andrea Anastasio
Solo Exhibitions
2008 Gate-Crash, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna
2006 Project 88, Mumbai HOMESICK, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore(cat)
2004 RECENT WORK, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore
2001 PORTRAITS, Solo show, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore
Group Exhibitions
2008 Still Moving Image, Curated by Deeksha Nath, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi(cat)
CURRENT, curated by Nivedita Magar, featuring works by Avinash Veeraraghavan, Sakshi Gupta, Minam A, and Sreshta Premnath at GALLERYSKE, Bangalore.
Post Visual World, curated by Gitanjali Dang, Priyasri Gallery, Bombay
2006 Around Architecture, Curated by Marta Jakimowich, Colab, Bangalore(cat)
with Love, curated by GALLERYSKE and Tilton Gallery, at Miami Design District
2005 Indian Summer, Curated by Henri Claude Cousseau, Deepak Ananth and Jany Lauga [Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris]
2004 Dispelling Asian Stereotypes, Public art project, Denmark.
2003 Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore. CITY PARK, Curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson, Project Arts Centre, Dublin.
In 2002 he writes "I Love My India. Stories for a city." Published by Tara Publishing, Chennai & Dewi Lewi Publishing, London.
Here below the 8 Indian artists, represented by 6 different galleries, that participated to the prize:
Gallery Ske: Avinash Veeraraghavan; Gallery Mirchandani Steinruecke: Abir Karmakar; Aicon Gallery: Debanjan Roy; Justin Ponmany; Chemould Prescott Road: Jitish Kallat; Vadehra Art Gallery: Pors & Rao, Tejal Shah; Sakshi Gallery: Valay Shende.
Based in Trieste, Italy, illycaffé produces and markets a unique blend of espresso coffee under a single brand leader in quality. Over 6 million cups of illy espresso coffee are enjoyed every day. illy is sold in over 140 countries around the world and is available in more than 50,000 of the best restaurants and coffee bars. espressamente illy, the chain of franchised Italian-style coffee bars is now present in over 30 countries and comprises 210 outlets. With the aim of spreading the coffee culture, illy has founded the University of coffee, the centre of excellence offering theoretical and practical training on every aspect of coffee for coffee growers, coffee shops staff and enthusiasts. On a global level illycaffè employs around 700 people and has a consolidated turnover of €270 million. (2007 results).
For further information:
Anna Adriani /Christine Pascolo, illycaffè Trieste - Tel +39 040 3890111
Giorgia Meretti/ Alberto Bottalico/Susanna Picucci - Cohn & Wolfe Milano - Tel +39 02 20239375 - 366 - 386
Barbara Martinez, illycaffè España – Tel +34 93 303 4050, barbara.martinez@illy.es
Julián García Calvo, Jefa de Prensa ARCO – Tel +34 917225717, julian@ifema.es
