"Life of a Double"/ "Life of a Situation", a video performance by Pratul Dash

On a specific site inside the zoo, Pratul Dash starts performing. He arranges some found object and makes the space in a semi-ritualistic manner. Then he pulls out the threat out of his shoes and starts tying his neck and head with that thread. He acted similar ways in his earlier engagements. For example, "Life of a Double", a video performance by Dash, take a more comprehensive look at various dimension of the migration issue. 

Pratul Dash is one of the noted contemporary artists of India today. In short period, he has been able to mark his presence in the art landscape of this country. He is one of the very few artists in India who are working through multiple channels, including painting, video art, performance art, photographic art, earth art, installation, and sculpture. His solo exhibition is coming up in a major gallery in Switzerland to be inaugurated by the Director of the department of Culture of Switzerland.

He has held six solos in major art galleries of India, participated in about two dozen shows curated by noted curators of the country; he has participated in a number of major art camps and residency programmes. He is recipient of the prestigious Inlakes Foundation award for which he went to Italy for further studies in fine arts. He has travelled abroad a number of times in connection with various international events.

Pratul is widely acknowledged for raising the issue of damage we are doing to our environment, ecology, planet earth, and society at large. He is artistically concerned about the immigration of labourers to cities and the sub-human conditions of living, as the expanding cities encroach upon the surrounding green covers and eco-systems.

The performance was under R. A. P. E. 2012 (Regional Art, performance and Events) activities, initiated by Kankhowa and BlackRice.

Pratul Dash's 'Life of a double' will be screened at Art In Cinema by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

PRATUL DASH

Landscapes of lament, an article published recently on New Indian Express

Pratul Dash: Large images of the cityscape dominate the oeuvres of Pratul Dash. There is, however, something foreboding about his vision. For, vast roofless architectural spaces, windowless skyscrapers, electric poles, dying vegetation and metallic pipelines comprise his cityscape, devoid of signs of life.

Through his paintings, the Delhi-based artist laments the all-round environmental and social degradation. If at all nature finds place in his work then it is in the form of a creeping tendril or a solitary cat, cattle or a flock of birds. Shades of gray dominate his palette.

Born in the small town of Burla in Odisha, Dash grew up in open landscapes. The bustling national capital, where he pursued his master’s degree, came as a rude awakening. His concerns are that of the depleting and deteriorating state of natural landscapes, of being a refugee tumbled into the bustling, chaotic city and finding his rightful space. He sees the degradation that is occurring in the capital being reflected in his native state as well, but on a very different scale.

One of his photographic works in this line is ‘Skeleton’. In what appears like a burial ground for old machinery, one finds stone-crushing machines, but no labourers in sight. They have long since migrated to other cities in search of jobs. The work was inspired by a trip to Burla where he found that an entire mountain had been levelled to extract its resources and the soil rendered infertile.

Dash’s art presents a world where everything is teetering on the brink. It is a world that is as unstable as the bamboo scaffolding that recurs in his paintings. “I am concerned about the changing landscape and the vertical growth which I see as an individualistic growth,” he says.

This is seen in his recent body of works, the latest being ‘Living’. In what appears like a maze of roofless cubicles which, he says, are houses in a metropolis, Dash draws “class classification” in them. If one cubicle has a drawing of

youngsters sharing a meal at KFC, the adjoining one has rag-picker children rummaging through garbage heaps. The common imagery found in the painting is symbols of dollar, rupee and lira. The 10-by-8- foot painting took him eight months to complete.

Another work ‘Left Out’ depicts a similar kind of landscape, which is barren. Huge buildings tower on one side. In the distance, some fire is seen with smoke rising to the skies. It is felt as if some riot, looting, and arson have just ended. There are objects scattered on earth, and no sense of belonging is felt; as if the terrain has been abandoned.

The artist is now working on a series on changing landscapes, pollution and subsequent environmental hazards. Under this, he is creating paintings, photographs and video art. He started the series during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and his first work was ‘A city near the Commonwealth Village’, a digital print of 700 photographs and a painting which articulates environmental concerns. “When the construction of the Commonwealth village was on, I used to visit it almost five times a week and just click pictures of at least three kilometre of the surrounding radius. At the end, all the pictures individually did not make any sense so I decided to stitch all of them together along with my painting to form a digital art,” he said.

A video art ‘The Story of a Landscape’  is an extension of his paintings on the subject. It is a digitally-stitched video of two of his paintings—Conch Blower and Man with a Camera. The video depicts the devastation caused to the environment by rapid urbanisation.

Dash says subjects of his paintings are derived from his observations and real life experiences. “Each frame portrays a plethora of complexities. A different

perspective of development and life,” he says. He plans to exhibit all his works under this series at the end of this year.

The artist received his bachelor’s degree from the B K College of Arts and Crafts, Bhubaneswar, in 1995 and his master’s in painting from the College of Art, New Delhi, in 1998. Among his honours are the Industrial Literature Society award, Italy, a scholarship from the Inlaks Foundation, the M F Husain award from the College of Art, New Delhi, and three annual awards from the B K College of Arts and Crafts.

Diana Sahu

Pratul Dash @ Heritage Auctions - Design District Annex 1518 Slocum Street, Dallas, TX

Pratul Dash's Man with Camera, 2011
Watercolor on paper
38 x 59 inches (96.5 x 149.9 cm)

AND

Living Space, 2011 (diptych)
Watercolor and mixed media on Fabriano paper
28 x 78 inches (71.1 x 198.1 cm) @ Heritage Auctions - Design District Annex
1518 Slocum Street, Dallas, TX

'Art for Humanity' Pratul Dash's work in a fundraiser show for victims of 2002 Gujurat riots started in Mumbai

Other artists besides Pratul Dash in group are, Atul Dhodia, Jitish Kallat, Anju Dhodia, Anajali Ela Menon, Pushpamala N Silpa Gupta and many others..

FRAGILE -II a group show at 1x1 art gallery

Pratul Dash
Anjaneyulu G
George Martin
Priti Vadakkath

The latest video by Pratul Dash, "The Story of a Landscape" (2010)

Opening : 29 October 2010, 6:30 to 8:00 pm

Exhibition opens to the public November 01 - December 04, 2010.

Sponsored by Tamarind Art Council

The latest video by Pratul Dash, "The Story of a Landscape" (2010), in the gallery's main hall is an experimental fusion of live action and animation with digitally stitched landscape depicting two of the artist's oil paintings named, "Conch Blower" and "Man with a Camera". The work will extend and amplify the conscientious nature of Dash's recent work, demonstrating an evolution in Dash's practice, with elements not often seen in his past work such as the use of CG animation. The film opens with picturesque landscape, alluding crisscross sections of time and space. When idyllic representations are subverted by the artist's perception, the landscape becomes a site of haunted desolation.

As an artist who was born in a small town in India and migrated to bustling metropolis in his adult life, Dash's art is very sensitive to his environment, reflecting the socio-cultural ethos he inhabits and works from. "Life of a Double", a disturbing dual projection is a product of artist's endless quest to locate the urban and the existence of the human beings in the urban locale.

In "Reflection", the viewer can sense the pain caused by displacement of the self and the physical body, and the struggle of trying to exist in as familiar land as a rightful citizen rather than a refugee.

Pratul Dash is an artist on the rise both at home and internationally. Dash, (b. 1974, Orissa, India) has exhibited extensively in major international institutions and has received numerous awards including, the prestigious Industrial literature society, Biella, Italy in 2005 and a scholarship from the Inlaks Foundation in 2004; the M.F. Husain award from the College of Art, New Delhi, in 1998; and three annual awards from the B.K. College of Arts and Crafts, Bhubaneswar, in 1991, '92 and '93.

Select solo exhibitions by Dash include 'Human Spaces', Sarah Khan Contemporary Art, Schaan, Switzerland, 2010, 'Proxy Origin', Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2008, showcased at both the Indian Art Fair: India Art Summit:2008 and Art Expo India: 2008, 2009 by Ashok Art Gallery, 'Neo-Istoria' at Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; 'UNIDEE in Residency' at Cittadelarte, Italy, in 2004; and those at Krishna Collections Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2003; Triveni Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2001; and Rashtriya Lalit Kala Academy, Bhubaneswar, in 1995. Dash currently lives and works in New Delhi, India.

About Tamarind Art Gallery

Established in 2003, Tamarind Art is an innovative forum for Indian contemporary art that inspires and challenges global audiences to embrace an understanding and dialogue about art in today's day and age. Tamarind Art encourages broad-based practices, encompassing a myriad of realms such as painting, sculpture, photography, installations, and video art projects. In addition to showcasing high caliber art, our mission is to become the premiere resource center for gaining an understanding of Indian art and artists who engage themselves into a challenging spectrum of work. In dealing with global issues that reflect contemporary society's concerns while documenting today's reality, rendered in a veritable and expressive light, these artists yield artistic versatility to Tamarind Art.

PRATUL DASH