Commemorative Copies – Flexing Muscles (Edition 4)

Description

A quickly vanishing service trade in Bangalore is that of the signboard painter. Once a ubiquitous form of promotional display and advertising, seen across the city on walls, banners, tin sheets, and other surfaces, the painted sign is now almost anachronistic, replaced by cheaper and quicker digital formats of reproduction. For this series of paintings, Reliable Copy has commissioned the painter Paratha Sarathee and his team at Senthil Graphics to produce a signboard for each of their past projects, to mark four years of professional activity.

Reliable Copy’s relationship with Senthil Graphics, a painting and production service based in Bangalore’s Shivaji Nagar began with the launch event for ‘Flexing Muscles’ (Ravikumar Kashi, 2019) where they were commissioned to produce the programme’s promotional banners. This relationship continued with the exhibition ‘at the kitchen table’ (1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery, 2021) where Senthil Graphics painted the wall text, numbered the display, and collaborated on the production of one of the artworks. For this present commission, Senthil Graphics has produced signboards featuring book covers, an exhibition poster, and a photograph, indexing Reliable Copy’s ongoing publishing and curatorial practice, while commemorating a form and format that is increasingly forgotten.