Charan Reddy / チャラン・レッディ / చరణ్ రెడ్డి

skeleton in three positions
The charcoal drawing depicts a skeleton in three different positions. Similar in composition to the painting “Charles I in Three Positions” by Anthony Van Dyck. Devoid of any colour, the drawing tries to engage with the current multitude of attitudes towards the monarchy in the United Kingdom and beyond.

A Portrait of a Prince (華頂宮博経親王)
Following my theme of exploring monarchy, I was looking at the changes that the Japanese monarchy underwent during the Bakufu period.

●Until Emperor Ninkō (1800-1846), royal portraits were traditionally done in the nihonga style (日本画, ink colours on silk) depicting an idealised image.
●Later the portrait of Emperor Kōmei (1831-1867) was done in yōga style (洋画, European artistic conventions and techniques) depicting a real image with near lifelike features. This was followed by the first photograph of a Japanese Emperor in 1873, a portrait of the Emperor Meiji (1852-1912).
●Within three generations, in the same century, the images of the Japanese monarchy transformed dramatically.

Adopted by the Emperor Komei as a potential heir to the Chrysanthemum throne and later chosen as the potential heir to the Tokugawa Shogunate, Prince Kachōnomiya Hirotsune (華頂宮博経親王, 1802-1875) did not succeed. However, as a high ranking member of the imperial family, the prince was photographed wearing a waistcoat and tailcoat in 1870. This old photograph avoids the distortion of perspective and digital lighting of modern photographic lenses.

By redrawing the portrait of Prince Kachō, Charan attempts to re-examine his story and identify the location of the portrait in the historical trajectory of royal images in modern Japan. Charcoal was chosen in order to recreate the distinct lights and shadows of the photograph, the contrast that highlights the shifts in the royal images and national identity.

出身は南インドです。インド工科大学で卒業のち、2017年に横浜国立大学の研究生として来日しました。2020年から東京アーティストリーグ（TAL）人物デッサン会メンバーです。現在は、王立英国建築家協会ファウンデーションコースの学生です。