THE TREE AND OUTSIDES

JAGANNATH PANDA RECEIVED FORMAL TRAINING IN PAINTING AND SCULPTURE AT M. S. UNIVERSITY, BARODA (1994) AND THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART, LONDON (2002) BUT IT IS HIS YOUTH IN ORISSA WHERE HE GREW UP IN A PRIESTLY HOUSEHOLD BOUND BY THE RITUALS AND MYTHOLOGY OF HINDUISM AND INFORMAL EARLY TRAINING UNDER TEMPLE CRAFTSMAN THAT INSPIRES AND REVERBERATES THROUGHOUT HIS OEUVRE. IN THE TREE AND OUTSIDES, A LONG-LIMBED TREE SPREADS ITS BRANCHES AGAINST A RADIANT NIGHT SKY. A RED-BREASTED KINGFISHER AND BRILLIANT, LUSH HONEYCOMB SURROUNDED BY A COLONY OF BEES FIND SHELTER WITHIN ITS BRANCHES. THE PATTERN ON THE TREE RECALLS THE DELICATE APPLIQUé WORK CREATED IN THE CITY OF PIPLI, NEAR PANDA'S HOMETOWN IN ORISSA. IN THIS DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE, YET DREAM-LIKE CANVAS, THE ARTIST CAPTURES THE EPHEMERAL NATURE AND NOCTURNAL LIVES OF TREES AND THEIR INHABITANTS. IN PANDA'S HIGHLY REFINED PERSONAL AESTHETIC ANIMALS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE. "NEVER ANTHROPOMORPHIC, BIRDS AND BEASTS REPRESENT THE HUMAN CONDITION BUT ALSO A CONTINUUM OF LIFE. THESE ARE THE ACTORS IN PANDA'S [CANVASES], HIS DRAMATIC STAGING OF AN ENCHANTED UNIVERSE ON TO WHICH MODERN RATIONALITY HAS ONLY THE MOST TENUOUS HOLD." (P. NAGY, JAGANNATH PANDA: BIO, ACCESSED ON 29 APRIL 2012, https://WWW.GALLERYCHEMOULD.COM/ARTISTS_J.HTML) OVER THE PAST DECADE, PANDA HAS RECEIVED SIGNIFICANT INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE AND RECOGNITION, HAVING PARTICIPATED IN EXHIBITIONS WITH HERNING MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, DENMARK (2010) AND MORI ART MUSEUM, TOKYO (2008).