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