Debraj Goswami

Debraj Goswami’s works presented here are highly complex super signs, comprising lesser symbols, or, more accurately, a synthesis of those symbols, which critique the concept and the concomitant costs of technological progress.  They can be seen within a certain cultural, sociological and political framework.  The fascinating and challenging imagery – such as the Magrittesque unicorn attempting to conquer a tree of hammers – stem from revelations of the mysteries of the visible world.  In analyzing Goswami’s works one begins to understand that attempting to solve puzzles must be avoided, instead, the artist himself provides clues to his mode of image making and the mental process on which it is founded. 

Somit Gupta

Somit Gupta’s paintings on acrylic sheets operate on the levels of fancy and play and achieve their effects through the use of quirky, private, and sometimes, confrontational imagery in a fascinating combination of bright and brooding colours.  He respects colours and knows their strengths and, rather than forcing them together, blends them with facility and ease maintaining a fine balance between seemingly contradictory forces: control and spontaneity; urban symbology and primitivism; menace and wit.  The use of a line which has its origins in art nouveau and an art deco font both embody more formal ties to the history of art.  The works observe and interpret the modern urban condition, selecting images firmly connected to social realities. 

Rajiba Lochan Pani

Rajiba Lochan Pani uses the canvas as both a physical and a conceptual space for personal exploration, artistic expression, the communication of political beliefs and, ultimately, the desire for social change.  He communicates complex ideas about identity, politics and culture and addresses socio-economic and geo-political issues of space and time through personal, local and global perspectives.  The coherent, although slightly cluttered, canvases are filled with sharp wit, quirky conspiratorial asides and an aggressive graphic style.  They depict the inhabitants of a land where traditional hierarchies are being rapidly transformed and the physical and psychological relationship between the individual and the urban environment is becoming an increasingly problematic one.   

Pampa Panwar

Pampa Panwar explores the narrative capabilities of art by going beyond mere recontextualization or use of contemporary iconography.  Her ability to suggest psychological presence is evident in these self-contained, often pensive works preoccupied with their inner imaginings and even slightly melancholic.  Her use of poignantly recurring motifs – such as the jockey – as cultural ciphers is powerful and evokes a world of dubious morality and danger in a subtle manner.  The works comment on identities being forged through localized conflicts and rapid re-alignment of cultures through external influences and difference.  In the most fundamental sense, these are three-dimensional illusions expressed through a two-dimensional surface and covey feelings of alienation and longing.