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Lot Essay
Questioning the representation of war and terrorism in mass media, T.V. Santhosh adopts a cynical view of the biases inherent in our current visual culture, juxtaposing images in his paintings which call into question the authenticity of newspaper and television journalism. Stylistically, Santhosh has adopted a unique and striking painting technique which makes his work instantly recognizable. His signature style of turning a positive photographic image into its negative and the deliberate elimination of details of anything specific or local in the image allows the subject to take a much grander scale and addresses the universal concerns of war, terrorism and violence.
In a world where one does not know who the real enemy is, 'war and terror' are the common words for both those who resist and those who attack. Dog, man's best friend, plays a similar role in T.V. Santhosh's installation. In conversation with the artist, Santhosh explains how dogs were used in World War II as suicide bombers with a time bomb tied to their bodies. Today, dogs are used to locate land mines in war-ridden areas and as sniffer dogs in places of disaster. In Your Path of Angst II (Lot 185), three dogs with timers secured to their bodies stand on text which is a narrative of the experience of a school girl during the bombing of Hiroshima. The scrolling text with the dogs standing still on this platform creates an illusion of the dogs approaching towards the viewer. Tension is built up through the juxtaposition of the stillness and silence of the dogs with the immediacy created by the scrolling text and descending numbers. The artist subverts the idea of loyalty and faithfulness of dogs towards humans by exposing the use of dogs towards man's self destructive instincts. Your Path of Angst II is a powerful vision that the artist has created leaving a lasting impression on its viewer, imploring them to re-evaluate the politics of war and terrorism.
In a world where one does not know who the real enemy is, 'war and terror' are the common words for both those who resist and those who attack. Dog, man's best friend, plays a similar role in T.V. Santhosh's installation. In conversation with the artist, Santhosh explains how dogs were used in World War II as suicide bombers with a time bomb tied to their bodies. Today, dogs are used to locate land mines in war-ridden areas and as sniffer dogs in places of disaster. In Your Path of Angst II (Lot 185), three dogs with timers secured to their bodies stand on text which is a narrative of the experience of a school girl during the bombing of Hiroshima. The scrolling text with the dogs standing still on this platform creates an illusion of the dogs approaching towards the viewer. Tension is built up through the juxtaposition of the stillness and silence of the dogs with the immediacy created by the scrolling text and descending numbers. The artist subverts the idea of loyalty and faithfulness of dogs towards humans by exposing the use of dogs towards man's self destructive instincts. Your Path of Angst II is a powerful vision that the artist has created leaving a lasting impression on its viewer, imploring them to re-evaluate the politics of war and terrorism.