Pratul Dash believes that to be a creative person, you need to be sensitive to and concerned about what goes on around you. His journey as an artist began when he moved to Delhi from Orissa in the late 1990s, leaving behind the beautiful landscapes of his childhood for a city deep in the throes of rapid development. “Urbanisation and the visual metaphor of human-nature conflict affected me. The primary motifs of migration and the displacement of self were main concerns of mine,” says Dash. This became the leitmotif of his work, none more profound than in his latest solo show, In The Twilight Zone.
On exhibit at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi, from next week, it will feature 20 paintings created over a period of six years. “Over the years I have become more aware of the painterly possibilities of an image,” he says. “Now I have begun exploring the painted surface as a window through which one can slowly rupture and fragment the viewers’ ideas of realism.”
In the conflict zone
Dash’s works have always focussed on the increasing devastation heaped by mankind on the environment. In fact, Soylent Green, American director Richard Fleischer’s 1973 post-apocalyptic film, which he had seen over a decade ago at a residency in Italy, played a key role in influencing his sensibility. While his earlier paintings were more direct and hard-hitting, with the use of monstrous scaffoldings and views of construction sites, his latest body of work uses aesthetics as a tool to communicate. Soft, pleasant colours and detailed strokes allow for varied interpretations, with the subtle, oblique imagery alluding to the alarming depletion of our natural resources.
One of the most evocative paintings in the series is Saving for the Future, which the artist worked on close to a year. Set against a vivid yellow background, it features Dash — his face covered by a traditional tiger mask — as the protagonist. The artist is depicted as trying to desperately hold on to a cornucopia of flora and fauna, to symbolise the tenuous hold we have on nature’s bounty that is fast vanishing.
Another painting, Shadows — featuring a sheep and a lamb against a rugged, industrial background — aims to capture the spirit of consumerism. According to the artist, the partly-sheared sheep, its skin and bone exposed, represents the exploitative nature of today’s world.
Many of the paintings feature starry skies, with a lot of movement, reflective of the twilight zone he wanted to capture. Like the evocative work Two Witnesses. It featuring a traveller carrying a rucksack, walking with his dog at night. There is a stillness in the painting, and a dichotomy — the man has his back to the viewers, as he seems to be documenting nature’s beauty, while the dog “is looking directly at the viewers, almost begging them not to destroy nature”.
Staying positive
Dash primarily works with oils, acrylics, natural minerals, and watercolours. He lists Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto — one of the main proponents of Arte Povera, or poor art, a movement underlined by the use of commonplace materials to evoke a pre-industrial age — as one of his artistic inspirations, as well as the attention to detail found in traditional art forms like Pahari and Rajasthani miniature painting traditions. “I like to work with video and sound, too,” says Dash, “and my next body of work is likely to use the digital medium.” But his goal, he says, will remain the same. “My goal is to sensitise people to the environmental dangers we are facing. If my work can affect even five to 10 people, and get them to understand and make a difference, it will be worth it.”
From March 6 - 16, at IGNCA in Delhi. Details: 30179515