Abstraction has always appealed to artists seeking absolute freedom—freedom from restraints imposed by space, form, colour or subject. Breaking free of such constraints for this work, Devayani Krishna painted a strong statement on war and how it signified total lack of wisdom on the part of the players. The dark plunging depths created by the arms of several boomerang-like objects spinning around a central pole create a sense of frenzied energy in the painting symbolising departure of sanity. The reference could be of the two important wars that India waged in 1960s—with China in 1962 and with Pakistan in 1965.
published references
Singh, Kishore, ed., Indian Abstracts: An Absence of Form (New Delhi: DAG, 2014), p. 226 Ways of Seeing: Women Artists |Women as Muse (New Delhi: DAG, 2021), p. 36
Devayani Krishna
Blackout of Conscience / War
1965
Oil on Masonite board
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Devayani Krishna
Blackout of Conscience / War
1965
Oil on Masonite board
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