The influence of folk imagery, a tantra idiom, motifs and patterns inspired from rural India’s culture and traditional ceremonies, shaped P. T. Reddy’s artistic practice. Mahishasura Mardhana is Reddy’s ode to the mythological culture of India, the power and strength of a female deity, Ma Durga, against the demon Mahishasura. Reddy applies flat colours in the painting and creates a work that takes its inspiration from folk motifs and symbols, showing the scope and immeasurable potential for Indian modernism to delve into more traditional roots.
published references
Singh, Kishore, ed., Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses in 19th and 20th Century Modern Art (New Delhi: DAG, 2014), p. 327 Singh, Kishore, ed., Tantra On The Edge: Inspirations and Experiments in Twentieth-Century Indian Art (New Delhi: DAG, 2022), p. 365
P. T. Reddy
Mahishasura Mardhana
1985
Oil and marker on canvas
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P. T. Reddy
Mahishasura Mardhana
1985
Oil and marker on canvas
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