Portraits of the Self - II

Portraits of the Self – II places the human body in focus - revealing not only its strength and passion, but also its vulnerability and sensuality.  

Parag Sonarghare and Prashant Pandey - the two artists in this show, come from very different backgrounds and work in contrasting mediums and styles. Yet they are connected, in their practice, through their desire to push the boundary on conventional ways of seeing. 

Painted in a larger-than-life format, the male figures that Sonarghare portrays in his works on canvas, are of older men from the lower socio-economic strata. In Untitled 2017-18, three men are seated naked and bear the marks of time – wrinkles, wounds, rough edges and imperfections. Yet they seem unperturbed by their condition. The two Untitled portraits from 2016 paint into prominence modern society’s most marginalized segments.

Sonarghare is interested in painting the nude body - insofar as to expose the soul through the map of the skin. The choice of subject, treatment and scale of the work - allows the artist to draw attention to ordinary people, with extraordinary sensitivity and skill.

In contrast to Sonarghare’s decidedly hyperreal paintings, Pandey’s work has a more abstract yet anthropomorphic character. He reawakens perception of everyday life by defying conventional logic when it comes to ways of seeing discarded objects. Through his use of found, recycled and reclaimed material, Pandey uses by-products of human activity in innovative ways, interrupting the utilitarian cycle of everyday life.

Kama, made from marble stones discarded in the making of deities, takes the form of the female pelvic bone. Playful yet poignant, it reimagines a shrine to which the faithful flock with prayers for fertility.

If you let the works speak to you, they will have an abundance to say. For starters, it invites you to witness a resurrection of all that is forgotten and obscure.

- Abhay Maskara