Lot 535: T. V. SANTHOSH (B. 1968)

T. V. SANTHOSH (B. 1968)
Stitching an Undefined Border
signed 'T V Santhosh'; further inscribed and dated 'T. V. SANTHOSH - 2007 OIL ON CANVAS SIZE: 4' x 6'' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
48 x 72 in. (122 x 183 cm.)
Painted in 2007

London, Saatchi Gallery, The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, January - May 2010
Lille, Tri Postal, La Route De La Soie The Silk Road, October 2010 - January 2011

The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, exhibition catalogue, Saatchi Gallery, 2010, pp. 50-51 (illustrated)
Manoj Nair, ed., 15 Contemporary Indian Artists, Dubai, 2008, pp. 176-177 (illustrated)

Wedel Fine Art, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner

It started from an observation while working on the computer. While manipulating an image I accidentally turned it into a negative and was amazed by the transformation that took place, because though everything of the original image is encoded in the negative, you cannot recognize the specificities. [...] I found that the negative image acquires some kind of neutrality which makes it travel beyond its local meanings and become something universal.
(T. V. Santhosh interviewed by Baiju Parthan, KaAM, exhibition catalogue, Arts India, 2006, unpaginated)

Stitching an Undefined Border is a powerfully resonant example of the artist's signature style. Rife with political commentary, his dynamic oeuvre reflects the complexity of current and historic crises; wars, terrorism and violence which resonate simultaneously on local and global levels. The resultant imagery poses questions around larger issues related to belief systems, liberation and nationhood. T. V. Santhosh solarizes contemporary photographic imagery to conjure the style of a film negative or an x-ray. As elements metamorphose through this process, once hidden implications are revealed; aspects of 'local' lose their specificity and come to attain a universal significance.