Vishal K Dar (b. 1976) is a Delhi based, US educated artist whose works reach ambitious technical heights with the help of his early architecture background. Dar uses satire and scale to address deeper personal, political and sociological issues, and his practice often extends outside the gallery and into the public realm. In addition to the ambitious solo projects that have earned him acclaim in India, the artist has also exhibited at prestigious venues internationally such as the TATE Modern in London and the Para/site Art Space in Hong Kong. In his 2010 solo show titled BROWNation – Dar reconfigured symbols of India from currency notes, Gandhi, and even the national flag to question the political idea of nationhood in India and the growing commodity culture by using ‘traditional bazaar’ idioms. In 2012, the artist expanded upon this idea of the BROWNation in his inaugural exhibition at Chemould Prescott Road, The Rise of the BROWNationals, which was in collaboration with historian Kaushik Bhaumik and media arts practitioner Siddhartha Chatterjee. In 2012, he produced NAAG, a site-specific sculpture which came to life through cutting-edge projection mapping technology, aspiring to deconstruct the notion of sculpture.
In 2009, Dar started a series of mysterious glowing insect sculptures made from stolen car lights, sourced from the Old Delhi grey markets. Light continues as a recurring motif and was powerfully harnessed in his ambitious 2013 public project Prajapati which refers to Louis Khan’s texts on silence and light as well as Hindu mythology.