“Art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity. I don’t see a different purpose for it now.”
Dorothea Tanning
In his art , the manifest reality of immediate settings and experiences is the entry point to a layered world. Its multiple meanings and representations can reference back to history, myths and objects and things of daily life especially farming. This stands for a deeper interpretation of the world, which is not pedantic or clearly stated but leaves much to the imagination of the viewer. Within this recurring frame, there are newer explorations of concurrent realities as well.
The symmetrical detailing and almost painstaking process make each of his works a throwback to the times when art was a vocation as a passion and a lot was expected of an artist beyond just a few brush strokes. His concerns are about what touches the everyday life of a person and the cycle of nature, the transport, the travel, the spiritual seeking and the difficulty of earning a living as well as the joy of making a living out of agriculture. All of these diverse strands can be glimpsed in his work giving us a picture of India as it exists in the rural setting beyond the chic art of modern, urban concerns.
The defining point to his art is a devoted fidelity to workmanship. Each of his work has a sense of craftsmanship in it, that seems to avoid the easy short-cut and is marked by precise and conscious patterns that connect to our Indian miniature tradition and temple art. His genius lies in making his own motifs, drawn from his experience and life around him, like repetitive patterns of peanuts, leaves, trees etc. In doing so, he brings his humble addition to the evolution of the miniature tradition from the royal courts to the present day. This is perhaps his biggest contribution, as he doesn't flinch from experimenting with ways that haven’t been attempted before but albeit without breaking away wholly from the traditions.
His journey is ever-expanding and the subtlety hides much more complexity than can be assumed from a cursory glance. It is first and foremost a visual world in the way art is supposed to be understood. His work can be symbolic yet enjoyed as a standalone work of beauty since it doesn’t burden the audience with unnecessary complexity between their enjoyment and understanding of the art.