Diabolical Dance

Described as a ‘titan’ of twentieth-century modernism of Indian art by historian Madhu Khanna, Nirode Mazumdar is an artist waiting in the wings of stardom like some of his peers. One needs only a few moments reading his works—rooted in Indian ethos and expressed brilliantly through decidedly modernist vocabulary—to understand the plaudits he continues to receive. At first look, the modernist language of the artist’s strokes in Diabolical Dance becomes amply evident, even before one understands the narrative. It’s an interpretation of the dance of Kali—the dance of destruction, which ultimately leads to regeneration and rebirth—driven home through gory masks, blood red overtone and chaos of battleground in the background.