Indian art: Meet the masters of popular aesthetics
These artists form the bulwark of the market and include well-known names with a consistent body and quality of work. To the public, they represent the face of Indian art without having to carry the burden of social engagement, thereby, believing in art for its own sake.
Curated By: Kishore Singh
The origins of myth
SIDHARTH (b. 1956)
Ganga
Silver leaf and mineral pigments
on canvas
72 x 216 inches
Known for his use of organic colours obtained from minerals and vegetation and ground to his instructions in his studio, Sidharth’s work has an almost epic quality to it. Often based on sacred texts, he researches extensively on his subject of choice, going back to consecrated myths as well as contemporary contexts, unifying the two along with the observed and experienced.
If, in the past, he had made the cow the subject of his practice, he has spent the last few years conducting research on the Ganga, exploring myth as one element but also investigating its environmental degradation and pollution as elements that have entered its flow. This has meant a good deal of travel, collecting facts, conducting interviews, listening to marginalised voices, while tapping into the repositories of music and dance that play along its shores. This quintessential mode of enquiry is rare in these times when the demands of the art market rarely allow an artist the luxury of such study.
SIDHARTH (b. 1956)
Ganga
Silver leaf and mineral pigments
on canvas
72 x 216 inches
Known for his use of organic colours obtained from minerals and vegetation and ground to his instructions in his studio, Sidharth’s work has an almost epic quality to it. Often based on sacred texts, he researches extensively on his subject of choice, going back to consecrated myths as well as contemporary contexts, unifying the two along with the observed and experienced.
If, in the past, he had made the cow the subject of his practice, he has spent the last few years conducting research on the Ganga, exploring myth as one element but also investigating its environmental degradation and pollution as elements that have entered its flow. This has meant a good deal of travel, collecting facts, conducting interviews, listening to marginalised voices, while tapping into the repositories of music and dance that play along its shores. This quintessential mode of enquiry is rare in these times when the demands of the art market rarely allow an artist the luxury of such study.
