Lot 1142: T. V. SANTHOSH

T. V. SANTHOSH
(b. 1968)
Your Path of Angst - II
installaton: fiberglass, steel and LED panels
Light size: 189.9 x 7.6 x 8.9 cm. (74 3/4 x 3 x 3 1/2 in.) x 19; Dog sculpture: 83.9 x 116.8 x 31.7 cm. (33 x 46 x 12 1/2 in.) x 3; Table: 62.2 x 289.5 x 49.5 cm. (24 1/2 x 114 x 19 1/2 in.); Chair: 91.5 x 56 x 66 cm. (36 x 22 x 26 in.)
Executed in 2007

Dubai, 1 x 1 Art Gallery, Af-fair: 15 Contemporary Artists, 2008.

M. Nair, ed. Af-fair: 15 Contemporary Indian Artists, exhibition catalogue, 1 x 1 Art Gallery, Dubai, 2008 (illustrated, pp. 190-193).

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 1142), 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.