Subodh Kerkar

In 2018, Kerkar's photo exhibition of fishermen was chosen for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Later, it inspired filmmaker Bharat Bala to make a documentary on it.

In 2015, he sold his art gallery and founded a new one, called Museum of Goa. The museum features many kinds of artwork, including works based on the ocean.

At the India Art Fair in 2014, he showcased an artwork titled Palm Leaves, reminiscing his childhood in Goa, where palm trees are commonly found.

In 2013, his sculpture named Chicken Cafreal (after the dish of the same name) was selected for the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition and competition in Australia. This was his third time getting selected there, after The Chilly (a huge red fibreglass chilly) in 2012.

In 2013, he faced allegations of corruption by Manohar Parrikar, to win a contract for a sculpture for a government body.

Kerkar's work has been displayed in India and abroad, including at art exhibitions such as the Sculpture by the Sea in 2011 and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2018. One of his recent installations is the 2017 Carpet of Joy. Another, a 2018 photo exhibition on fishermen (chosen for the Royal Academy exhibition), was chosen by filmmaker Bharat Bala to be the subject of a documentary. He has been invited to speak at places like Visva-Bharati University and the Van Gogh Museum.

In 2011, he was invited by the Dean of Visva-Bharati University at Shantiniketan, to conduct a workshop. In the same year, he created a fibre glass sculpture of a robot with an ass’ head.

In 2009, Kerkar launched an art exhibition in Mumbai to mark the anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In 2009, Kerkar launched an exhibition of sketches of Lord Ganesha. Organizations such as the Sanatan Sanstha called for protests, while others like the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and the Shri Samarth Ramdas Seva Bhakti Mandal chose to file a police complaint under Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, for hurting religious sentiments. Kerkar alleged that he received threats on his life for his work.

In the 2000s, Kerkar began his foray into the field of "land art". He began by creating sculptures from scrap and garbage. In 2002, he created an installation artwork named Tenth Planet. In 2005, he followed with Sea Anemone. During Goa's first IFFI in 2004, Kerkar was chosen to set up 500 metres of installations along Miramar beach.

In 1987, he started his own art gallery, in Calangute, Goa. It was named the "Kerkar Art Complex", and had an open-air auditorium. He also began to exhibit at art galleries across the country.

Subodh Kerkar (born 26 August 1959) is a Goan painter, sculptor and installation artist, and founder of the private art gallery Museum of Goa. He is known for his artworks and installations.

Subodh Kerkar was born on 26 August 1959 in Pernem, Goa. The son of an art teacher, he always took an interest in art. Upon growing up, he became a student leader, with many cartoons to his credit. He joined Goa Medical College and became a doctor by profession. Following this, he ran a hospital and private practice for a few years in Calangute, until he quit and decided to become an artist.

In 2017, he created the Carpet of Joy – an artwork to protest the excessive littering in Goa, on the 100th anniversary of Gandhi’s first experiment of satyagraha (which Gandhi began in Champaran on April 10, 1917). It used 1,50,000 discarded plastic bottles, collected from beaches and hotels in Goa, to weave a carpet. To celebrate the anniversary, Kerkar also worked with a team of software engineers and Dmytro Dokunov, a digital artist from Ukraine, to create an augmented reality smartphone app called "Gandhi AR", which would display a bust of Gandhi when pointed at any Indian currency (which features Gandhi on it).