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 b

Jul 02, 2016, 02:45 IST5 min

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Feminine, feministKANCHAN CHANDER (b. 1957)Devi Nouveau 4Mixed media on canvas board48 x 32 inchesThe torso has been central to Kanchan Chander’s work and she has imbued it with all that concerns her: The primal woman and its totemic attribution attenuated through the body proper. If these suggest a feminist viewpoint, it could hardly be wrong, even though Chander has been attracted towar

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The artist as satiristFARHAD HUSSAIN (b. 1975)UntitledAcrylic on paper12 x 9 inchesNo one satirises our highly sexualised society like Farhad Hussain. A keen observer of social trends, Hussain mocks our pet peeves and fears. His paintings are often staged to resemble a farce of the kind that theatre often depicts. Hussain’s cast of characters revolves around the urban middle class, an inf

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Romancing the middle classNAYANAA KANODIA (b. 1950)Kadabari’s JoyrideOil on canvas48 x 36 inchesWithin the gentle parlour relationships that she paints with her sardonic eye, artist Nayanaa Kanodia has established the changing nuances in society, often allowing the viewer to be voyeur as well as participant in her delightful cameos of social life in 21st century India. Kanodia’s wickedly

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In a vanishing landSENAKA SENANAYAKE (b. 1951)RainforestOil on canvas48 x 60 inchesThis well-loved Sri Lankan artist has a huge fan following for his rainforest landscapes with their cheerful colours and dense vegetation amid which bloom anthuriums, birds-of-paradise and exotic tropical plants. What appears at first escapist is a documentation of a rapidly dwindling environment leading to

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Innocent lustTHOTA VAIKUNTAM (b. 1942)Telangana Woman with PotAcrylic on canvas41 x 29 inchesThis Telangana-based artist did not have to look far for his muse before chancing on his iconic figures that are so popular among his collectors. There is something immensely appealing about Thota Vaikuntam’s Telangana doppelgangers— voluptuous women in gaily coloured saris, their blouses festoone

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The mortal immortalMANU PAREKH (b. 1939)Flowers from Heaven XIIIAcrylic on canvas100 x 80 inchesKnown principally as a landscape artist for his enduring ode to Benaras, Manu Parekh distills part of it in the manner of still-lifes or temple offerings. For Parekh, these have a subcutaneous erotic layer, a reference to fertility and lushness in nature, akin to human sexuality. Drawn to the i

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