Sameer Kulavoor

Sameer Kulavoor is a visual artist living and working in Mumbai, India. Having closely witnessed the rapid transformation of urban surroundings and culture in India in the 90s (results of economic liberalisation and the internet boom), Kulavoor’s innate approach is to constantly note and understand the impact that time, culture, politics and socio-economic conditions have on our visible and invisible surroundings. His works often address how and why cities look and work the way they do by filtering, dissecting, defamiliarizing and documenting commonly seen subjects and events – often oscillating between instinctive and conceptual methods of making.

Through the early 2000s, Kulavoor became widely known for his design and illustration work and set up one of the earliest specialised studios of its kind in India – Bombay Duck Designs. Over the next decade, Kulavoor moved on to focus on his solo art practice that has taken the form of drawings, paintings, videos, sculptures, murals, books, zines and art-prints. Kulavoor’s works have been widely shown and some of his most recent exhibitions include You are all caught up and A man of the crowd at Tarq, Mumbai held in 2020 and 2018 respectively; Please have a seat – Serigraphs at Artisans’ at Kala Ghoda, Mumbai in 2016; and Metromorphosis – part of the Mumbai Urban Art Festival by St+Art India, 2023. He is represented in India by TARQ Mumbai.