Odisha’s Artist To Head National Gallery of Modern Art

New Delhi: Adwaita Gadanayak from Odisha, a winner of the Lalit Kala Akademi National Award, is set to take charge as director-general of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA).

He succeeds Rajeev Lochan, who retired on June 30 after being at the helm for 16 years.

After the Ministry of Culture recommended Gadanayak’s name, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved his candidature to head NGMA.

Head of the School of Sculpture at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneswar, the 47-year-old is a winner of the Lalit Kala Akademi National Award for Sculpture in 1993.

Gadanayak is also a former convener of Odisha BJP’s art and culture cell and had attended RSS shakhas in his youth.

Gadanayak was born in Neulapoi, a small village in Dhenkanal district of Odisha. After MFA in sculpture from the College of Art, Delhi, he went to London to study at the prestigious Slade College of Fine Arts in the mid-1990s and returned to Odisha to practice.