The month long show “Rerouted Realities” will open with about 40 artworks, spanning two decades of the artist’s work. Hailing from Bihar, Das is a prolific artist who has exhibited at several renowned museums overseas including Oberlin Museum USA, Ethnic Art Foundation USA, Mary C Lanius, Denver USA and Asian Heritage Foundation, New Delhi. The highlight of this first ever solo show in India which will be seen for the first time in public, is a set of two scrolls from 1999 depicting the mythological tale of Hans and Bachcharaj. The set took more than a year to execute and measures 5 feet by 10 feet and 3 feet by 6 feet. While in other works at this exhibit such as the “Gujarat Series,” the story is told through individual images that serve as chapters, here the story unfolds as an expansive panorama.
Das’ passion for the arts started since his childhood when he saw women in his family draw murals to mark festivals and special ocassions — that is when his journey began. His artworks merge tradition with contemporary while drawing inspiration from Hindu mythology and the humdrum affairs of life. Whether inspired by the world around him or the domain of religious iconography and myth, Santosh’s highly inventive versatile images reimagine and reroute conventional and fictitious realities. Opening on Thursday, January 10the show continues till February 10, 2019.
“This exhibition is a summarization of my thoughts through the years, translated into artworks with Mithila-Madhubani style of painting. It is a celebration of sorts with Ojas Art over the collective love for traditional art and its place in the contemporary world of today”, shares Santosh Kumar Das.
Kathryn Myers, curator of the exhibition writes, “On a path that began with this cultural and familial inheritance of traditional forms, he identified what was essential to Mithila art – its language of line – and developed his own distinctive dialect, timbre and tone. Like many individuals who leave home and return transformed, through his vision, ambition and expansive spirit, rooted in, but not bound by tradition, Santosh exemplifies how to live as an artist in the world.” The artworks on display at once resemble early Mithila murals and register as an elaborate visual narration and the show is a journey through the artists’ mesmerizing work of nearly two decades.
