Concrete Kingdom: Sculptures by Nek Chand
American Folk Art Museum Exhibition of the Work of a Revered Artist from India

During the volatile partition of India in 1947, Nek Chand was forced to leave his Punjabi village and settle in the newly planned city of Chandigarh, designed by world-renowned French architect Le Corbusier.  He became a road inspector for the Public Works Department. 

In Chandigarh, Nek Chand witnessed the formation of India’s first modern city and learned the methods behind developing such a complex.  In 1958 he began the construction of his fantasy environment in secret.  He collected rocks, usually odd shapes, disposed materials, and other recyclable items, such as shards of glass, tiles and broken crockery from the destroyed villages that once stood on the site where Le Corbusier's city was being built.  Nek Chand stored them in a secret clearing in a forest on public land at the edge of the city, assembling these found materials at night and on weekends.  Inspired by the poured concrete techniques of Le Corbusier, he used water, concrete, and primitive tools to create his private garden.  By the early 1970s he had filled his outdoor art installation with more than one thousand concrete figurative sculptures embellished with the recyclable materials he had collected.  However, this private place and secret act took place on public land.  When the local Indian government discovered it in 1975, they wanted to destroy Chand's creation, but after numerous public protests, Rock Garden was finally embraced by the politicians and leaders of the region.  The artistic importance of the site was recognized and Rock Garden opened as a public park in 1976.  Chand was appointed as director and awarded a staff of apprentices to continue his efforts.  Today, with over two thousand figures, this remarkable landscape covers more than 25 acres.  Rock Garden is the second most visited tourist site in India; only the Taj Mahal attracts more people.

In the mid-1980s, Nek Chand was invited to build a Fantasy Rock Garden for the National Children's Museum in Washington, DC.  He created approximately one hundred sculptures representative of the much larger project in India.  When the National Children's Museum had to relocate in 2004, the American Folk Art Museum received 29 of these artworks from the recently dismantled Fantasy Garden.  A gift from one museum to another, the artworks create a perpetual link between New York and this remarkable art environment in Asia

The unity in nature implicit in Nek Chand's oeuvre resonates with the Hindu belief in the interrelationship of everything in the world.  As a self-taught Indian artist, he translates traditional and vernacular artforms into his own visual vocabulary.  The works in the exhibition are representative of the types of sculpture found in Rock Garden of Chandigarh.  The arrangement of the figures in the museum in undulating tiers recalls the prominent architectural elements of Rock Garden.

Chand's figures are frontal, upright and three-dimensional and vary in size from 1-1/2 to 6 feet high.  They are created and shaped with cement built over an armature of found metal, often the frame of an old bicycle, and brick dust is added to the mortar mixture to create color variations on the surface.  A master of recycling, the artist frequently embellishes his figures with broken tiles and ceramic kitchenware, bicycle parts, glass bangles, foundry waste (such as clinkers and slag) as well as natural materials — stones and other miscellany.

The figures range from graceful women draped in saris or encircled in multicolored glass bracelets to men dressed in white broken crockery to crouching monkeys perched on tile pedestals.  They are engaged in the activities of daily life — ladies fetching water, boys carrying flowerpots, and long-limbed soldiers marching. 

Five of the concrete sculptures in the exhibition are early, unadorned figures.  The freestanding male and female figures are described by Chand as villagers and are similar to others installed in the Rock Garden.   There are two early relief works that are traditional mithunas, affectionate couples who symbolize the essence of life. These works were made solely for personal enjoyment and were a gift from the artist in 2001 to the American Folk Art Museum. 

"Nek Chand's magical environment testifies to the maker's life philosophy as a follower of Gandhi and his spiritual inclinations as a Hindu," comments Ms. Anderson. "The stoic presence and elegance of Chand's figures fulfills his intent to create a 'Kingdom of the Goddesses and Gods', an evocation of an organic world where all living things can unite in mutual respect and peace."

Concrete Kingdom: Sculptures by Nek Chand is supported in part by the Gerard C. Wertkin Exhibition Fund.

Educational Programs
Several talks and a family program are scheduled in conjunction with the exhibition. "The Kingdom of the Gods and Goddesses," April 26, will be presented by Cheryl Rivers; "Concrete Conservation: Caring for the Art of Nek Chand," May 16, will be discussed by Anton Rajer; "Enforced Isolation: A Woman's Art in India," May 24, will be explored by Dr. Stephen P. Huyler; and a Family Sunday Art Workshop "Play with Clay," April 23.

The exhibition Folk Art Revealed is on continuous view and White on White (and a little gray) will be on view from March 28 through September 17, 2006.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM
Since its founding in 1961, the American Folk Art Museum has been one of the nation's foremost resources for the exhibition, study, and preservation of folk art. It is home to one of the world's preeminent collections of folk art dating from the 18th century to the present, including paintings, sculpture, textiles, and other decorative arts, as well as the work of contemporary self-taught artists from the U.S. and abroad. As the largest repository for the works of Henry Darger, the museum established the Henry Darger Study Center in 2000.

The museum has made a commitment to present the work of important international artists and organized a retrospective of the work of the Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli in 2002. Nek Chand is the first Asian artist to be honored with a one-person exhibition. A major exhibition of the work of the Mexican artist Martin Ramirez is scheduled for 2007.

In December 2001, the Museum opened its new building-and first permanent home-at 45 West 53rd Street. Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, it has been hailed as "one of the most influential examples of modern architecture of the century," as well as a vital cultural addition to New York City.

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