About

About Subodh Kerkar

Subodh Kerkar is a qualified medical professional who gave up medicine to pursue arts in 1990. He has carved a niche for himself, especially in the field of conceptual art, land art and performance art. He is the founding director of Museum Of Goa (MOG), which is one of the largest privately-owned contemporary art spaces in India.

Biography

Born on 26th August 1959, in Goa, Subodh Kerkar gave up his medical profession in 1990 to pursue his passion. His art practice includes installations, sculptures, multimedia works, performances, paintings and drawings. His works are heavily washed by the ocean and are commentaries on social, political and religious issues. He narrates histories using contemporary visual idioms. He is the founding director of Museum of Goa. Presently, he also holds the Mario Miranda Chair as a Visiting Research Professor at Goa University.

Artist Statement

Subodh states, “My convictions find expression in my creation. I believe that artists are sensors, receptors and transmitters of ideas in a society and I try to fulfil that role to the best of my ability, even at the cost of winning the ire of those in power.” Speaking about his influences and inspirations, Subodh says, “I consider myself an ocean artist. The ocean is both, inside and outside my works; my master and my muse. I celebrate the ocean as a creator of civilizations. I am an avid student of history which becomes a footnote to most of my works.”

Major Exhibitions

2024:

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Australia (Invited Artist).
Goa Open Arts Festival, Panaji, Goa.

2023:

‘Fish Tales and Catamarans’, Kynkyny Art Gallery, Bangalore, Karnataka.
‘Maresia: Goa – Portugal’, Museum Of Goa (MOG), Pilerne, Goa.
‘The Final Speech’ Gallerie Splash, Gurgaon.
MTDC’S Tarkarli Resort, Maharashtra, on the occasion of the Prime Minister’s visit on 4th December 2023.

2022:

‘0832’, Museum Of Goa (MOG), Pilerne, Goa.
‘Posthumous Dialogues with F. N. Souza’, Museum Of Goa (MOG), Pilerne, Goa.

2020:

'Oceanic Odyssey' presented by Art Positive @ India Art Fair, New Delhi.

2018:

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London.
India Art Fair, New Delhi.

2017:

Moses and the Plastic Ocean’ (Invited Artist at Sea Art Festival, Busan Biennale).
‘Reimagining Gandhi: An Artist's Vision’, artworks for Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa.
‘Carpet of Joy’ – An installation which aimed at spreading awareness against littering, Saligao, Goa. (The installation was created using One Lakh Fifty Thousand discarded plastic bottles and was visited by over Two Lakhs people over a period of two months).
India Art Fair, New Delhi.

2016:

Installations for BRICS 2016, Goa.

2015:

India Art Fair, New Delhi.
Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus, 2015, Denmark.

2014:

‘Janela - Migrating Forms & Migrating Gods’ A Collateral Event presented by MOG at Kochi Muziris Biennale 2014, Kochi, Kerala.
Label 201 Gallery, Rome.
‘Sparsha -Touching the Senses. Ritual and contemporary Indian art’ at Kunstmuseum, Bochum, Germany.
Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, Australia.
‘Water Bodies’, exhibition organized by INKO Centre and Arts Council (Korea) in Chennai.

2013:

Strarta Art Fair at Saatchi Gallery, London.
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Australia.
Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, Australia.
‘The Pepper Cross’ Canvas International, Art, Amsterdam.
United Art Fair, New Delhi.

2012:

‘Unsung in Life; Unclaimed in Death’ project for Raqs Media Collective, organized at Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi.
‘The Pepper Cross’ Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, Germany.
‘Catastrophe’, installation at Marina beach, Chennai (Invited Artist for Chennai Art Fair 2012).
United Art Fair, New Delhi.
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Australia.

2011:

‘Unfolding of a Dream’, an installation in support of the Tibetan cause, created with the blessing of HH, the Dalai Lama at Vagator beach, Goa.
‘The Earth Bowl’ (Prithvi Kund), installation at Ozran, Small Vagator beach, Anjuna, Goa.

2010:

Ruhr Biennale, Duisburg, Germany.
'The presence of the absence’, installation for Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS), Shimla.

2009:

‘The Art of India - 20 years of Contemporary Art’, Gallery Neumeister, Munich, organised by The Indian Institute, Munich on its 80th Anniversary.
Jam Jar Gallery, Dubai.

2008:

‘The Sea Remembers’, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam.

2007:

Jam Jar Gallery, Dubai.
Gulf Art Fair, Dubai.

2006:

Award winning installation for Busan Biennale Sea Art Festival, South Korea.

2005:

20 installations for Mumbai Festival.
Half a kilometer of installations for the International Film Festival of India, Goa.

2004:

Half a kilometer of installations for the International Film Festival of India, Goa.

2003:

Kronen Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland.

2002:

Hillestad Gallery, Norway

2000:

Fundacao Oriente, Macao.

Major Art Commissions

2024:

‘Oceanic’, performance installation on IJmuiden beach near Amsterdam in Netherlands, for LaLaLand Festiva with over 50 participants.
‘Moses and the Plastic Ocean’, an art installation (created using discarded plastic bottles) for Eicher Group Foundation made of used plastic water bottles, Vagator Beach, Goa.

2023:

‘The Bearing Being’, a sculpture for SKF, Pune commemorating 100 years of its presence in India created with metal scrap.
Artworks for Amar Prerna Trust, Pune, Maharashtra (Egoscope and Changing Colours - Changing Truth).
‘Digital Art’ for arrival corridor at Terminal 2 Phase 1, Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL).
Art Project for MOPA International Airport, Goa (The Fishing Disc, The Horse Disc, Fishermen and the Ocean, The Goan Houses and Carpet of Joy).

2021:

Artworks for Adani Ports and special economic zone Ltd., Ahmedabad (Mandvi Mandala, Power Disc and Digital Art).
‘The Flying Carpet’, installation for the launch of Ferrari, Formula 1, Abu Dhabi.

2019:

‘The Russian Mammoth’, installation in Suzdal, Russia, as part of ‘Man of the world’ Festival of experimental art.
Artworks for ‘The Himalayan Garden & Sculpture Park’, Yorkshire, England (The Cotton Field, Laterite Stone Hea', Karimeen (Fish), Pineapple Disc, The Oceanic and Dialogs).

2016:

Artworks for Diana Buildwell Limited at W Hotels, Vagator beach, Goa (Many Colours One World, Migration of Plants, Chicken Cafreal and Chillies).

2010:

Artworks for Lavasa Special Planning Authority (LSPA) (Crazy Anchor, Drops, Mosaic, Seeds and Sprouting Seed).
Artworks for Mineral Foundation of Goa at Valpoi (Deepasthambhas, Sprouting Seeds, lamps and wall mural).
Art Project for Goa Niwas, New Delhi (Golden Palms, Paintings, Sculptures, etc).

2008:

‘The moon and the Tides’, sculpture for Urban Arts Project (UAP), Australia, at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
Artworks for Garden of Five Senses, New Delhi (Pinwheel Tree, etc).

‘Moon and the Tides’, installation for Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd.

Lectures

Subodh is an acclaimed orator and has spoken at many important forums, which include the following:

2025:

‘Glimpses of Goa’s Histories’, Kala Academy, Campal, Panaji, Goa.
‘Colours in Indian Tradition: Indigenous Experiences’, Banaras Hindu University.

2024:

‘Food Against Fanaticism’, The Hindu Lit for Life festival, 2024, Chennai.

2022:

‘What is art?’, Keynote presentation for GROHE Architects’ Event at Fort Bishangarh Rajasthan.
‘What is art?’, Keynote presentation for Dialogues Decennial - Edition, Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur.
'I am an Ocean Artist', Keynote presentation for ONE CONFERENCE: Ocean Networking and Ecosystem development" at NCBS-TIFR, Bangalore.

2021:

‘Reclaiming Gandhi’, Online lecture for The Hindu Lit for Life Festival 2021.
‘Reclaiming Gandhi’, Online lecture for IIT Jodhpur, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti Celebrations.

2020:

‘Expressing Gandhi’ - Kerala Literature Festival, Kozhikode, Kerala.
‘Thinking Gandhi in the times of Corona’, Online lecture for Shoolini University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh.
‘Introduction to Art’, Online lecture for Beyond Boundaries - e-Sessions by ThinkArts organized by Takshila Educational Society.

2019:

'I am an Ocean Artist’, Keynote presentation for the Indian Ocean Conference Lisbon, Portugal.
‘Gandhi Reborn – 150 years later’ - Panel Discussion, along with Lord Meghnad Desai (House of Lords) and Dr. Shruti Kapila (University of Cambridge), moderated by Mr. Erik Berglof (Director of the LSE Institute of Global Affairs), at London School of Economics (LSE).

2018:

‘Art in Landscape: Subodh Kerkar's Land Art’, Conversation with Tehzeeb Katari at The Hindu Lit for Life festival, 2018, Chennai.
‘Social and Creative Entrepreneurship’, at the International Seminar on Entrepreneurship as a social Movement, organized by banglanatak.com, Kolkata.

2017:

‘Edu Vision India – 2022’, National Educational Conference 2017, Goa.
‘Gandhi and Science’, lecture at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune.
‘Reclaiming Gandhi Through Arts’, lecture at The University College London (UCL), for the conference ‘Mahatma Gandhi in the 21st Century: Gandhian Themes and values.
‘Land Art’, presentation at Sea Art Festival, Busan Biennale 2017.
‘The Social and the Political in my Artistic Practice’, TEDx talks, Goa College of Engineering.
‘Reclaiming Gandhi’, presentation for ‘The Wire’.
‘History of Medicine in Goa’, talk for Difficult Dialogues, Goa.

2016:

‘Installation Art’, a workshop and lecture for the students of Indian Institute of Management (IIMA), Ahmedabad.
‘Food Against Fanaticism’ lecture at INK Conference, Goa.
‘Regional Responses Through Art’, talk at Serendipity Arts Festival, 2016, Goa.

2015:

‘Museum of Goa’, Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) 2015, International Centre, Goa.
‘The Ocean and Art’, lecture at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
‘Installation workshop’ for the students of college of Arts & Crafts, University of Lucknow.

2014:

‘Exploring History Through Art’, TEDx talks, BITS Pilani, Goa.
‘My Experiments with Installations’, Camel Art Foundation, Art Lecture Festival, Goa.
‘My Experiments with Art’, Jaipur Art Summit.

2013:

‘My Experiments with Installations’, Thinkfest 2013, Goa.
‘Artists in Conversation’ David Handley (Founding Director, Sculpture by Sea) and Dr. Subodh Kerkar, Lalit Kala Akademi, National Academy of Art, New Delhi.
‘My Experiments with Art’, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi.
‘My Art Journey’, Mohor, Pune Biennale 2013.

2010:

‘Interventions in Landscape’, Forum for Exchange and Exchange in Design (FEED), Pune.

CATALOGUES /PUBLICATIONS

Numerous catalogues of Subodh’s works have been published by different galleries, nationally and internationally. The important ones include:

2025:

‘Goa : Subodh Kerkar’s Canvas’, written by Kunal Ray, published by Aleph Book Company Pvt. Ltd.
‘Museum Of Goa’, written by Kunal Ray and illustrated by Subodh Kerkar, Jugnoo Prakashan, an imprint of Ektara Trust.

2024: