Pioneering artist Vivan Sundaram dies at 79 after battling health issues

Vivan Sundaram, one of India’s pioneering multidisciplinary artists, passed away on Wednesday morning. He was 79 years old.

“Vivan Sundaram passed away this morning at 9:20 am. Further details of the cremation will be communicated to you shortly as decided,” read a note issued by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), of which Sundaram was a founding trustee.

Social activist and friend Shabnam Hashmi said Sundaram had been ill for the past few months with multiple problems.

“The last three months I was in and out of the hospital,” Hashmi told PTI.

Born in Shimla in 1943 to parents Kalyan Sundaram, former Chairman of the Law Commission of India, and Indira Sher-Gil, sister of prominent Indian modern artist Amrita Sher-Gil, the Delhi-based artist studied painting at the University of MS, Baroda and The Slade. London School of Fine Arts in the 1960s.

Sundaram’s artistic practice, which shifted from painting during her university years to engaging with everything from readymades, photography, video to sculptural installation, has been widely considered crucial in the definition and development of installation practice in the country.

“He was one of the greatest artists and activists I have known for over 35 years. His demise is a great loss to the art world and also to creative cultural resistance. He was a rare person, he generated extremely interesting ideas, he planned them meticulously . and worked day and night to implement them,” Hashmi wrote in a Facebook post.

Sundaram’s works have been exhibited at the Kochi (2012), Sydney (2008), Seville (2006), Taipei (2006), Sharjah (2005), Shanghai (2004), Havana (1997), Johannesburg (1997) Biennales ) and Kwangju. (1997).

Sundaram’s first retrospective, “Come in and you are no longer a stranger”, bringing together his 50 years of work and ideas, was held at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi in 2018.

He is survived by his wife, the historian and art critic Geeta Kapur.