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Lot 100

 

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Adopting and manipulating media-generated images, T.V. Santhosh uses his body of work to raise ethical and philosophical questions about the current culture of violence we are immersed in, and the skewed ways in which it is represented to us. Santhosh’s paintings expose the multiple readings inherent in the situations they depict, forcing us to pause and question the veracity of the images and information we receive on a daily basis through the... Adopting and manipulating media-generated images, T.V. Santhosh uses his body of work to raise ethical and philosophical questions about the current culture of violence we are immersed in, and the skewed ways in which it is represented to us. Santhosh’s paintings expose the multiple readings inherent in the situations they depict, forcing us to pause and question the veracity of the images and information we receive on a daily basis through the current news media.

By inverting their colours and turning them into their negatives, the artist moves away from chronologic and geographic specificity, conferring these works with global resonance. Illuminating and problematizing the pervasive nature of violence in contemporary society, the artist notes that his recent work is “…not just about terrorism that comes out of religious fundamentalism. It is about the violence terrorism unleashes and the counter measures the state employs which actually is more violence. At the end of the day, it is innocent people and the ordinary citizens who are sacrificed. So my work is more of a critique and I am not trying to provide any answers to the question of violence” (as quoted in “Interview – 2007: T.V. Santhosh with Baiju Parthan”, Unresolved Stories, the Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2008, pg.17).

The present lot depicts an armed force personnel in a candid moment. However, the title of the work Torn Flag makes the picture anything but that. The painting speak does not of ideologies. Rather, Santhosh picks up on the humanitarian aspect that is often submerged in lofty agendas. He achieves this by isolating that one moment from the barrage of images and freezes it in time.

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