(Santosh Kumar Das)
Training in
modern art proves a boon for many artists who hail from the rural areas with
strong folk/artistic traditions and for many others it is a curse for they find
themselves caught between the genuine impulses of the folk aesthetics and the newly
acquired tastes and techniques from the academies. There are yet another rare
set of artists who could balance between both; means, keeping the rural idiom intact
while letting the contemporary ideas and subject matters seep into the
pictorial renditions. It is an act of faith for such artists who do not want to
let the tradition go astray and get lost in the din of the ambitious
contemporary art lingua blooming vicariously elsewhere. Santosh Kumar Das from
Mithila region in one such artist who swims beautifully and gracefully in the
ink of Mithila art and dares to deal with many issues including the political
ones that gnaw our country’s body and conscience but not really referring to
them directly in terms of identifiably stark iconographies. While the
iconography of the Mithila paintings remains safe in the hands of Santosh Kumar
Das, he shows the determination to transgress to the areas which are often
overlooked by the traditional artists or put into allegorical terms. Hence,
Santosh Kumar Das is an artist who loves to perform contained explosions which
would find resonances and shaking up among the sympathetic and aesthetically
egalitarian minds.
(work by Santosh Kumar Das)
I have
decided to write this small note of appreciation for the artist and his works
as his solo show is slated to start today at the Ojas Art Gallery in New Delhi.
While going through the works of art, I was reminded of the words that I had
written about him and his book ‘Black- An Artist’s Tribute’ in 2017. Let me
quote that here: “Mithila painting with its own logic and world view has been a
domain of traditional women artists who imparted the skill and knowledge from
generation to generation. Santosh Kumar Das took to this feminine visual language
and explored his own self through its idioms. He created a repertoire of
imageries and narrative patterns without breaking radically away from the norms
of traditional renderings and gave it a further edge capable of revealing his
own world view as a contemporary artist.” (http://johnyml.blogspot.com/2017/09/art-ink-santosh-kumar-das.html).
Some of the works in the present show at the Ojas, titled ‘Rerouted Realities’,
curated by Katherine Myers are extremely political and contemporary that makes
Santosh Kumar Das’ stance as an artist a bit problematic vis-à-vis his visual
language.
(Muslims Taking Shelter in a Mosque by Santosh Kumar Das)
It is not
that the traditional/folk artists have not done enough towards bringing
contemporary socio-political and cultural imageries including the popular
cultural matters in their works. As human beings living in the present time,
mostly connected with the external world through smart phones and other mediums
of engagement and social connection, these artists are no longer living in a vacuum
absolutely insular from cultural penetrations. They are literate (many have been
to high schools, colleges and fine arts colleges apart from imbibing techniques
and traditions from within the family itself) and connected to the world which
automatically make them respond to the contemporary matters even remotely or metaphorically
in their works. But often due to many pressures including those of the market
and patronage, they resist themselves from making such transgressions. It is
easier and comfortable for them to continue with what they already know. If the
traditional artists are not really making much inroads into the contemporary
art the reason is not that they are unaware of the contemporary matters but because
the demands of patronage. Patrons want them to be in a cultural vacuum that
gives them insularity as well as pristine quality.
(Mother Earth Invoking Lord Shiva- work by Santosh Kumar Das)
I do not
want to say that the way the economic functions within these traditional and
folk artists and their art productions is mainly exploitative but the demand in
the market is for certain kinds of work. What makes Santosh Kumar Das
exceptionally different from the folk/traditional artists is his ability to
articulate the contemporary issues without pawning away the traditional/folk
idiom. I repeat this since the beginning of this short essay because had it
been any other artists from his own region, he/she wouldn’t have directly
mentioned the insecure Muslims taking shelter in a mosque during a riot which
we know as the Gujarat Riot or the Post-Godhra Carnage in 2002. The artist also
dares to show that a Muslim man and a Brahmin/upper caste man standing on
either side of a trident (which has been made into a potential weapon of attack
or just to flaunt the right wing belligerence in the streets) and trying to
assert their case. With the knowledge of the right wing fundamentalism growing in
India, just behind the minds of the onlookers, they could easily deduce that
the Muslim man’s belligerence is just an act of survival than protest or
provocation.
(Muslim and Hindu on either side of a trident, by Santosh Kumar Das)
In another
work, Santosh Kumar Das goes much ahead when he portrays the mother earth
emblematically invoking Lord Shiva, the annihilator of evils and asking him to
bring forth Durga; and Durga does manifest on the upper right side of the
painting. And the artist does not shy away from saying that this call of mother
earth is nothing but a call for vengeance against the perpetrators of
atrocities against the Muslims or rather the Dalits and minorities in this
country. Therefore the works of Santosh Kumar Das (the above mentioned ones come
from the body of works done during the post-Godhra riots) become political in
nature. While we need suggestive titles to take us to the crux of the work, in
some of them one does not need even an indication by name. In another set of
works, we see Krishna, the blue/dark god annihilating Bakasura, a demon in the
form of god. Who could be this demon that is countered by Krishna? This could
be the political evil embodies for sure as we know the implications of the
other works by Santosh Kumar Das. Bakasura becomes a stand in figure for the
right wing evil, I assume; one may differ in opinion.
(Krishna by Santosh Kumar Das)
Santosh
Kumar Das, in this exhibition also presents a few works where the artist
himself seems to be painting an iconic Krishna figure. With a brush in hand and
the romantic aspect of the blue god expressed in his plume, posture and parrot
guest perching on him, Santosh Kumar Das at once become the ‘maker’ of god as
well as his devotee. Here the painted image is animated to become a part of the
living scenario of creativity seen within the painting. May be the fact that
Mithila is where the blue god had spent his time shepherding and eve teasing
the village belles, the artist is all the more interested in depicting him
again and again. Or it could be a subtle way of presenting his political case
as Krishna belongs to the Yadava caste, which is considered to be a backward
caste in the North of India and the non-concealable darkness and lasciviousness
that go against the White gods of all kinds who had incorporated him in to
their pantheon of gods. That is how resistances are absorbed and accommodated for
nefarious political purposes by the fascist ideologues. Santosh Kumar Das a
subtle resistance to this cooptation through his paintings that makes his works
more appealing to an art lover like me. While the modern contemporary artists
fail to tackle the political issues in their works for various reasons, an
artist who has taken the folk idiom as his forte seems to have gained some
mileage at this front. It is a must watch show.
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