Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran - Deity with Dragon Mask
Artist: Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran
Artwork Name: Deity with Dragon Mask, 2022
Medium: bronze sculpture, 91 x 33.5 x 8.5 cm
Date coming: 2025
Artwork statement
Dragon Deity is a bronze sculpture that continues the artist’s interests in syncretic languages specific to South Asia and the histories of figurative sculpture related to Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian frameworks. Dragon Deity is one of six bronze figures which formed part of a suite of work from 2023, titled Undergod. The term, Undergod refers to a mythological being who exists in a plane between human and divine. The sculpture was cast from an ephemeral sculpture made from terracotta clay, a rubber dragon mask, wooden beads, and other detritus. It was then cast in bronze, patinated and polished via a lost wax casting process. This 6000-year-old material process has long been used to create bronze sculptures in various regions, particularly in Asia.
Through Dragon Deity, the artist connects to an expansive lineage of South Asian idolatry, while developing his zoomorphic language by creating a fantastical reptilian and humanoid warrior figure. This zoomorphic approach has been central to various mythologies related to the artist's Sri Lankan ancestry as well as his various popular cultural interests spanning CGI and animation. The figure's arms are up in a gesture of fierceness or welcome.
Artist Biography
Born in Sri Lanka and based in Australia, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran creates rough-edged, vibrant, new-age idols that are at once enticing and disquieting. Formally trained in painting and drawing, the artist places an emphasis on sculpture, which champions the physicality of artmaking. He experiments with form and scale in the context of figurative sculpture to explore politics of sex, the monument, gender, and organized religion. His works are often stacked to form totems or perched atop customized plinths.
While proceeding from a confident atheist perspective, Nithiyendran draws upon his Hindu and Christian heritage as reference points, as well as a large range of sources including the internet, fashion, and art history. Self-portraits make frequent appearances, and the dual presence of male and female organs suggest gender-fluid realms of new possibilities. Nithiyendran has exhibited in cities such as Dhaka, Hong Kong, Canberra, and Melbourne, and his work appears in museum collections across Australia.