Ebenezer Sunder Singh

Ebenezer Sunder Singh
Ebenezer Sunder Singh, at the opening of White Nights at Palette Art Gallery in New Delhi
Born	(1967-04-16) April 16, 1967 (age 50) Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Artist

Ebenezer Sunder Singh (born 16 April 1967) is an Indian-born visual artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Singh works primarily as a neo-expressionist painter, sculptor, photographer and filmmaker. He has been credited as one of the best contemporary figurative artists to emerge from India in recent years.

Singh was born in the temple town of Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu in India. His formative years were deeply influenced by the twin heritages of his hometown, which houses both Christian cathedrals and the famous Hindu Nellaiappar Temple. Singh went on to graduate from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, where he had already begun to show his work in state-level exhibitions. He studied under pioneers in the field of South Indian figurative art, such as A. P. Santhanaraj and L. Mumusamy. Following his move to the United States, Singh received his MFA in Visual Art from the Lesley University College of Art and Design, where he studied the visual modes of photography and video art under renowned visual artists Julia Scher and Judith Barry.

Singh's early career began at Cholamandal Artists' Village, Chennai, the largest artists' commune in India. His primary visual influences were initially based on Dravidian temple art and its mythological capacity for figuration, but he soon imbued this with elements of the Italian Transavantgarde movement following his exposure to the works of Naples-born painter Francesco Clemente. Singh debuted his neo-expressionistic pieces at a 1996 solo exhibition titled The Hollow Men, The Stuffed Men at Easel Art Gallery. Singh was then chosen to represent India in 1998 at the International Artists Camp held in Sri Lanka, where he worked and exhibited his works alongside German painter Thomas Scheibitz. The following year, Singh received the Charles Wallace Grant and traveled to England, where his illustration and printmaking works were exhibited at Kingston University in a show titled Neti...Neti... Drawing on metaphysical themes of redemptive resurrection and transcendentalism, Singh continued to build an individualistic oeuvre.