自由多遠

Questioning the representation of war and terrorism in mass media, T.V. Santhosh adopts a cynical view of the biases inherent in our current visual culture, juxtaposing images in his paintings which call into question the authenticity of newspaper and television journalism. Stylistically, Santhosh has adopted a unique and striking painting technique which makes his work instantly recognizable. His signature style of turning a positive photographic image into its negative and the deliberate elimination of details of anything specific or local in the image allows the subject to take a much grander scale and addresses the universal concerns of war, terrorism and violence.

This painting (Lot 1311) is inspired by a dialogue in 1923 between the legendary Indian freedom fighter Mohandras K. Gandhi and Sree Narayana Guru, a revolutionary figure in his own right from Kerala, a southern state of India. Gandhi had asked Guru how far he thought freedom was. From a philosophical and spiritual perspective, Sree had replied that freedom was very far away; while Gandhi, referring to Indian Independence, countered the view by saying that freedom was close at hand and achievable.

In this painting, men stand in a row looking at a distance with hollow expressions at the unseen future. The composition is laid out brilliantly where a few men represent the millions of Indians who fought together for their freedom from colonial rule.