Born in Nairobi, Kenya, he trained as an artist and teacher in India, gaining a certificate in metal casting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, in 1978. His work is mainly, though not exclusively, figurative, often adapting the anthropomorphic forms of prehistoric sculpture to a contemporary aesthetic idiom, and occasionally blurring the distinction between works of art and functional objects. An acknowledged master of the techniques of bronze patination, he also works with stone and wood, but always with a high degree of attention to surface finish. In addition to his studio works, which have been exhibited throughout the UK and overseas, he has carried out several major public commissions, including the bronze Miners’ Memorial at Muirkirk (2004), and a statue of Robert Burns in New Cumnock (2011), both in East Ayrshire. Kirti Mandir was a visiting lecturer at Glasgow School of Art from 1988 to 1990, and has taught bronze casting in workshops in Scotland, Ireland and the USA. He currently lives at Glenbuck, East Ayrshire, where he has created a sculpture garden for displaying his work.
Bibliography: R. McKenzie, Public Sculpture of Edinburgh (2 vols), Liverpool, 2018, vol. 1, pp. 25–27; Kirti Mandir website.
Ray McKenzie 2018