GULAM RASOOL SANTOSH | Untitled

Collection of Artist
Thence by descent to the current owner circa late 1990s

There are minor undulations in the upper right cornert. Small accretions and light stains are present on the surface of the canvas. Two small pinholes are present in the central section of the canvas, inherent to the artistic process. There is a small spot of paint loss along the lower edge of the canvas. This work is in overall good condition, as viewed.
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In 1964, Gulam Rasool Santosh had a mystical experience that was to have a profound effect on his work. "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) After this, Santosh became fascinated by religious traditions within Kashmiri Shaivism, a branch of Indian philosophy. This came to influence his art as the awareness and consciousness that stemmed from frequent meditation and practice of Tantra took form in his paintings as transcendent imagery. Santosh launched himself at the vanguard of the neo-Tantric movement, associated with painters such as K.C.S. Paniker and Biren De. This work is an example of the artist’s signature neo-Tantrism, which centred on symbols found in Buddhist and Hindu tradition. Here, as is typical in his work, he has implemented ancient tantric iconographies and subsequently reinterpreted them by reducing them to abstractions, culminating in the construction of a fresh aesthetic language. This vertically symmetrical picture plane consists of an anthropomorphic figure leaning within a meditative stare. Santosh has decorated the body with yantras, or sacred geometrical symbols, that signify the regenerative aspects of consciousness. The head is composed of a circular naad bindu, representing the cosmos in its equivocal state, sharing an axis with geometric tantric shapes at the abdomen. The curved contours delineate a voluptuous feminine aspect, softening the angular lines. Shakti in Hinduism represents the female principle of divine energy and power that first creates and then preserves the universe.