Crisis
Charcoal and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 12“ X 18”
Created in 2015, the artist has tried to mirror his own stress and confusion in the grim expression of the person. The set of the mouth and the whirling dark crimson as the backdrop leads to the question – is there something on his mind?
Popped
Recycled canvas
Dimensions: 18” X 18”
After Africa, during the summer of 2019, the election campaigns in India were in full swing. Political propaganda pervaded the air – loudspeakers blared promises and televisions yelled out incoherent arguments. Locked in and overwhelmed, this painting on an old canvas mirrors the hapless feeling of being force-fed propaganda while we watch on in silence.
Locals 1
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
This painting spells out absurdity in its juxtaposition of images. First exhibited in Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, the painting tries to portray the surreal in people. The person who tries somewhat unsuccessfully to look out of the painting could be a person you pass on the street.
Locals 2
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
Part of the series named Locals, the disembodied face in the painting is a mask. We don several masks every day, sometimes unknowingly. We need these masks, just as this mask seeks a body or a person to fit on/a face to mold onto
Locals 3
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
In an impersonal world, where one is constantly caught up as one of the many in the crowd, in the rush of life we seldom get a quiet moment to look within and decipher ourselves. Just like the man in the frame who remains half hidden while he questions his identity. Have we been reduced to bar codes and numbers by the powers that be?
Locals 4
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
A person steals a moment of tired respite in this painting. The weariness is palpable in the lines etched out in her face. In this moment the character feels disconnected and disillusioned with the world.
Locals 5
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
This painting speaks of a world that is increasingly getting engulfed by social media and the underpinning of its contemporary insatiable consumerist society. It raises the question of who is consuming whom? Are we consuming each other in an attempt to cater and please?
Locals 6
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
This series named locals aims to make the onlooker question themselves in relation to the paintings. This piece has a person who is laughing but the laughter on his face holds a tinge of unease. What lies behind the obvious appearance?
Locals 7
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
In a pre-covid world, the daily commute was the best way to observe locals on whom the series is based. We are crowded into confined spaces, in a position of forced familiarity, breathing the same air and just existing. The overlay of the panels, one over the other, gives the impression of the intrusion of personal space.
Locals 8
Mixed Media on paper
Dimensions: 12” X 12”
This painting sketches a scene from a flight the artist took and found the person in this piece sitting next to him. The heavy jowls and corpulence of the man naturally wasn’t pleasing to the eye, as he stared out of the window, looking deep in thought. What was he thinking about? Was he now as he had imagined his future self to be?
