Untitled

This bronze sculpture by K. C. S. Paniker depicts a sorrowing Jesus Christ. Inspired from Christian themes, which had been strongly entrenched within the cultural landscape of south India since at least the first century CE, the sculpture’s facial features accentuate tropes of vulgarity and gore, unmistakable attributes of the nativist tendencies of art from Cholamandal. Although best-known for his breakthrough Words and Symbols series, Paniker made sculptures with the same amount of thought, care and precision, bringing forth, as seen here, the emotional quotient of his figures.