G. R. Santosh (1929 - 1996)

Acquired from the artist's family, New Delhi, 2002

K. Singh ed., Awakening: A Retrospective of G. R. Santosh, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2012, p.98

K. Singh ed., Indian Abstracts: An Absence of Form, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2012, p.354

The current painting represents a transitional period in Gulam Rasool Santosh’s career. In the 1950s, Santosh experimented with figuration but by the 1960s he had begun to include elements of abstract expressionism within his work. This was also combined with a new found interest in tantric art.  ‘I went to Amarnath in the sixties, purely as an artist-tourist. But the truth is, that unknown to me, this yatra (journey/pilgrimage) changed my life, the way I think. Upon my return from the yatra, a ‘new’ poetry was born’ (K. Singh, Awakening: A Retrospective of G. R. Santosh, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2011, p. 39). Fascinated by the mystical religious traditions of Kashmiri Shaivism, Santosh implemented ancient tantric iconographies in his work and subsequently reinterpreted them by reducing them to abstractions, culminating in the construction of a fresh aesthetic language, launching himself at the vanguard of the neo-Tantric movement.

The amalgamation of oil and wax on the surface of this painting creates an element of depth. Santosh’s use of these mediums and his creative process evokes an aspect of sculpting on the canvas whilst the artist explores new forms. Elevations and shadows within the work give the composition a certain incandescent quality that transcends the two dimensional plane and offers viewers a glimpse of how the artist controls space and movement. This painting from the ‘Torso series’, although at first glance may look to have little in common between his abstract and tantric phases is on closer inspection a period that serves as a direct bridge between the two. It is in these works that Santosh combined the academic language of art with his own rising interest in Shaivite philosophy.