An extraordinary sculptor

Just back from the private viewing of
international sculptor Kirti Mandir, (born in Africa, brought up in India working in Britain) solo exhibition in Crieff.

For those of you not familiar with this wee town in Perthshire the significance of the last sentence may be lost on you.

Crieff, with all due respect, is a cultural black hole- until artist entrenpenurs David Campbell and Tom Barron co-founded Strathearn Artspace, now a registered charity.

So, to have a sculptor like Kirti agree to exhibit is quite a coup.

How Kirti, the son of wealthy Indian middle class family became a sculptor is a remarkable story.

He was in his second year doing medicine when he saw, for he first time, an illustration in a book of a Michelangelo sculpture.


It made such an impression on him that he said: “I want to do that,” and against pressure from both family and college he gave up medicine to pursue an artistic career.

After obtaining art qualifications in India he arrived in Britain knowing very little English but he admired the work of Henry Moore so he wrote to ask if he could work with him.


Moore said no because he was inundated with such requests but he did give him an introduction to another sculptor and that set Kirti on his new career path.

Now his work fuses three distinct cultural heritages: African, Indian and European.