Untitled

Borrowing from Bengali folk art and Western Surrealist traditions in equal measure, Dharmanarayan Dasgupta's works combine fantasy and satire to voice the artist's critique of the socioeconomic and political milieux of his time. "Bizarre images crowd his canvases and are reminiscent of the ironic work of Surrealist artist Rene Magritte and the naive realism of Henri Rousseau: subjects float in the air surveying the world with their legs pointing skyward and distorted beyond recognition. He explains, 'If some of the figures in my paintings are seen suspended in the air and others, upside down, it is so because I am trying to present the predicament of a middle-class man, who does not have a secure foot-hold in our society, who has to make compromises, face disappointments and whose dreams and aspirations are invariably turned down.'" ('New Goddess', Victoria & Albert Museum Collections website, accessed January 2020)