Greetings. As Nature Morte will be taking a few months off from brick-and-mortar exhibitions, we thought we would take this opportunity to look back at the history of the gallery and the development of our relationships with artists, one artist at a time. Now in our 23rd year in India, NM has grown and matured with its artists and our earliest accomplishments are most likely unknown to most of our current audience.

"Haste Modern," August 7–28, 2004

By chance, Peter Nagy was in Mumbai in 1999 and saw LN Tallur's first solo show at Gallery Chemould. Already Tallur's approach to sculpture was intriguing as he had studied Museology in Baroda, bringing in ideas about the display of objects and the context for art. In 2000 Tallur won the Bose Pacia Emerging Artist award, which resulted in his solo show at the Bose Pacia Gallery in New York that year. He continued with themes of objects in containers and inflatable interactive works for his first presentation at Nature Morte in New Delhi.

"Chromatophobia – The Fear of Money," April 4–30, 2011

Tallur met his Korean wife while studying in Baroda and divides his time between South Korea and India. For a few years he was spending more time in Korea and became associated with the Arario Gallery there. Again by chance, Peter Nagy was in New York when Tallur mounted a massive show at Arario's space there in 2008. Tallur's work had matured tremendously while continuing with many of the museological themes he started out with. This was contemporary art that was firmly rooted in India yet also influenced by other Asian cultures and participating in some of the most urgent international dialogues surrounding art practice at that time, all of which he continued with for his second exhibition at Nature Morte.

"Pass Word," March 1–April 4, 2012

One of Tallur's most spectacular achievements to date was his solo show at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, in 2012. This was the perfect context for Tallur's approach to sculpture, utilizing both objects culled from the museum's collection and reproductions of vitrines and display devices dating from the museum's 19th Century beginnings. We were able to show a few of these works in the gallery space Nature Morte had at the Oberoi Gurgaon hotel at the time.

"Montessori: Lessons in Economics," November 23, 2012—16 February, 2013

For his solo show at Nature Morte's gallery in Berlin (2008-2014) Tallur showed a mix of works from both his Indian and Korean studios.

"UKAI (Cormorant Fish Hunting)," January 11–March 8, 2014

Tallur's third show at Nature Morte, New Delhi included a wide array of sculptures, exploiting a diversity of materials and approaches. While some works were interactive, inviting participation by the viewers, others employed kinetic elements to become theatrical installations.

"The Dream Must Turn Speculative," January 12–24, 2016

For one of our annual shows in Mumbai, Nature Morte rented two floors of a building in the Kala Ghoda neighborhood and combined new works by Tallur with works by Suhasini Kejriwal of Kolkatta and Faig Ahmed of Baku, Azerbaijan.

"Ramakrishna Behera & LN Tallur," April 13–May 28, 2016

For a late-spring show at the gallery in New Delhi, we combined new works by Tallur with paintings by Ramakrishna Behera. In the work "Milled History (mirror)" Tallur started with a carved wooden sculpture which he buried in the ground and allowed termites to eat it, digging it up to arrest their "sculpting" and then having a facsimile of the same carved into sandstone that was chosen for its similarity to the patterns of wood grain.

The Sculpture Park, Madhavendra Palace, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur
December 9, 2017–November 9, 2018

For the inaugural exhibition of The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace, Tallur contributed four sculptures, two placed in the open courtyard of one apartment, with one in each of the side rooms adjoining it. The viewer encountered Tallur's works before entering the interior of the apartment, where a suite of bronze sculptures by the French artist Arman were displayed.

The Sculpture Park, Madhavendra Palace, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur
December 9, 2018 – October 1, 2020

Included in the second edition of The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace (and currently on view) is Tallur's second version of his sculpture entitled "Chromatophobia" (which means the Fear of Money). Made in Korea and exhibited in Tallur's solo show at Nature Morte Berlin in 2013, it was also shown at the Basel Art Fair that same year, before being brought to India. The work uses a found granite "happy man" statue, bought at a garden supply shop, sliced in half. One side is labeled "Made in America" and the other "Made in China." The massive wooden log which rests on his head contains coins from all over the world, hammered in by visitors to its multiple exhibition venues.

"Interference Fringe," May 5, 2019–January 5, 2020

Nature Morte was proud to be involved with both the exhibition and the catalog of Tallur's largest project to date, at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey, about one hour's drive from New York City. Many of Tallur's most important works were borrowed from museums and private collections while he also had the opportunity to create some ambitious new works and expand some earlier installations.

"The Idea of the Acrobat," January 28–February 19, 2020

Nidhi Agarwal, Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta, Reena Saini Kallat, Bharti Kher, Manish Nai, Khyentse Norbu, Aditya Pande, Rashid Rana, Ayesha Singh, Dayanita Singh, and LN Tallur

To inaugurate the Center for Contemporary Art at Bikaner House, New Delhi, Nature Morte put together a group show of works by 12 artists in all media. While Tallur showed a new sculpture in a vestibule on the ground floor, a large room on the first floor was given to his first video work, which was created for his show at Grounds for Sculpture. "Dust" is very much a video by a sculptor, exploiting materiality and scale while playing with the illusion that lies at the core of all art