Madan Meena P

Madan Meena

Born in 1974 at Narayanpur Tatwara, Rajasthan. 

Education & Scholarships

 2006            Ph.D. on the subject 'Art of Meena Tribe' at Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.

2000-03       Research Fellowship (NET), University Grants Commission, New Delhi.

1999            M.A. in Painting (University Gold Medal) Government College, Kota.

1998,99       Granted Students Scholarship by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

1998            Indian Art & Culture Certificate Course, N.M.I., National Museum, New Delhi.      

1997            Fresco & Mural Painting Certificate Course, Banasthali University, Rajasthan.    

 

Solo Exhibitions

2009            Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

2008            Artchill Gallery, Amber Palace, Jaipur

2007            Juneja Art Gallery, Jaipur.

2002            Triveni Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi.

2001            Taj Art Gallery, Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai    

1999            Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta.

1999            Ravishankar Raval Kala Bhavan, Ahmedabad.        

1998            Rabindra Bhawan, Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi.

 

Awards

 2002            Tulika Kalakar Parishad, Udaipur.

2000            Annual All India Art Exhibition, AIFACS, New Delhi.

2000            Annual Art Exhibition, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

1999            South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur.

1999            Himachal State Museum, Shimla.

1998            Students Exhibition, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

1998            AVANTIKA, New Delhi.

1998            Awarded at Rajasthan Kala Mela by Central Lalit Kala Academi, organised by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

Participation

2003            Contemporary Art of Rajasthan organised by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academy, Jawahar Kala Kendra and North Zone Cultural Centre at Patiala & Chandigarh.

2001            Contemporary Art of Rajasthan organised by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi at Lucknow, Goa & Kota.

2000, 01      Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar.

2000            West Bengal State Academy, Calcutta.

2000            The Bombay Art Society, Mumbai.

2000            Millenium Exhibition, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta.

1999            Annual Art Exhibition, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

1998, 99      Kala Mela organised by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

1998            All India Exhibition (Drawing), AIFACS, New Delhi.

1998            All India Exhibition of Drawing, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

1997            All India Art Biennial of Rajasthan, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academi, Jaipur.

 Camps & Workshops  

 2009            Young Painters Camp, Neerja Modi School, Jaipur.

2009            Artist Camp organised by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academy-Jaipur.

2005            Contemporary Painting Workshop organised by North-East Zone Cultural Centre-Dimapur at Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh).

2004            Publication Design Workshop organised by Seagulls Publication at Kolkata in association with ARCE-American Institute of Indian Studies, New Delhi.

2002            Painters' Camp organised by Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendra-Lucknow at Jhansi.

2002            Young Artists' Camp organised by AIFACS, New Delhi.

1999, 2001   Art Awareness Camp at Kota.        

1998            National Students Camp organised by Bareilly College, U.P.

1997            Zonal Contemporary Painters Camp organised by West Zone Cultural Centre-Udaipur at Daman.

 Group Exhibitions

2009            Group Show at CRIMSON-The Art Resource, Bangalore.

2005            Group exhibition by Bougainvillea Gallery at Udai Villas, Udaipur.

2004            Ravishankar Rawal Kala Bhawan, Ahmedabad & Art Gallery, Kota.

2003            'RECONNOITRE' organized by Gallery Space, Hyderabad.

2003            Group exhibition organised at Bangalore and  Chennai by Laxshana Art Gallery.

2003            'WE' at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur & Art Gallery, Kota.

2001            Group show 'spectre' at Srishti Art Gallery, Welcomgroup Rajputana Palace Sheraton and Gaurav Towers, Jaipur.

2001            Krishna's Collection Art Gallery, New Delhi.

2000            Gallery Ganesha, New Delhi.         

2000            Group show 'expressions', at Jawahar Kala Kendra-Jaipur, Kota, Bundi & Gadepan.

1998            Two-men show at Contemporary Art Gallery, Ahmedabad.  

 Others

2010            Assistant Director for a film on Broom being made for Arna-Jharna Museum, Jodhpur. The project is supported by Ford Foundation, US.

2008-09       Designed exhibition on Brooms for ‘Arna-Jharna: The Desert Museum of Rajasthan’ of Rupayan Sansthan, Jodhpur.

2009            Curated exhibition of Meena women wall paintings along with Tara Books on launch of ‘Nurturing Walls’ book at Jaipur Literature Festival.

2006-07       'Creative expressions of the Meena women' exhibitions of collection and research work on Meena tribe organized at:

                   National Centre for the Performing Arts-Mumbai.

                   Bharat Bhawan-Bhopal

                   Hutheesingh Visual Art Centre-Ahmedabad

                   Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishad and Gallery Time & Space-Bangalore

2004            Invited as resource person for making of documentary film 'Creativity of Meena Women' by Educational Media Research Centre-Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur.

2002            'Creativity of Meena Women' exhibition of collection and research work on Meena Women at India International Centre, New Delhi.

 

 

Research Projects

 

 

2010            Research Grant from Cambridge University, UK under the World Oral Literature Project (WOLP) for documentation and publication of book and audio DVD on Tejaji Ballad sung in Hadoti region of South-Eastern Rajasthan.

2006            Genealogical study of Jaga community residing in Eastern Rajasthan. This was to study the system of keeping written records of family lineages. The project was funded by Department of Culture, Government of India.

2007            Documentation on Folk Epic of Devnarain sung in Eastern Rajasthan. The project was supported by Geeta Sarabhai, Sangeet Kendra, Ahmedabad.

 Books

Nurturing Walls-Animal Art by Meena Women’ book on Meena women wall paintings published by Tara Books, Chennai.

 

‘Joy of Creativity’ (self published), based on motifs of Meena women wall paintings.

 

Madan Meena is a visual artist and researcher. He has worked extensively with artists and craftspersons from local communities in Rajasthan. His doctoral dissertation from University of Rajasthan was on the subject 'Art of the Meena Tribes'. He continues to work as a researcher with the women of the Meena tribe and has documented and exhibited their mandana wall paintings across the country. He has published two books on the subject, Joy of Creativity and Nurturing Walls. As a visual artist, Madan has exhibited his work extensively in various galleries across the country and abroad. 

As a curator, he has designed an exhibition on brooms for the “Arna Jharna: The Desert Museum of Rajasthan” of Rupayan Sansthan (Institute of Rajasthan folklore studies) in Jodhpur. For this he widely travelled throughout Rajasthan studying the broom-making communities, their socio-political and cultural issues. He was Assistant Director for the film ‘Jharu Katha’ on the same subject.

His association with late Komal Kothari, one of India's leading folklorists and oral historians inspired him to start his independent research and documentation in parts of eastern Rajasthan where he is based. One of his important researches is based on genealogists of his own community in which he traced history about the formation of his native village and its past 22 generation spanning to some 500 years. He has been regularly recording oral traditions among the Gujjar (shepherds), Meena (tribal), Jogi (musicians), Mali (gardeners) and Kumhar (potters) communities.Madan has received a grant from Cambridge University under the World Oral Literature Project (WOLP) to document Tejaji Ballad sung in south-eastern Rajasthan. Under the grant he has published a book ‘Tejaji Gatha’ and an audio DVD which will be freely distributed to the singers and villagers. His interest in languages has led him to start his work on the secret language of the Kanjar community residing in Rajasthan. For this he has received fellowship from the Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research, US. He currently works and lives in Kota in Rajasthan.