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Lot 94

Through his cityscapes, Jagannath Panda strives to uncover beauty in what most consider mundane, or even ugly. In doing so, the artist challenges his viewers to locate and enjoy the picturesque in their everyday lives. In this piece, Panda uses paint and brocade in his depiction of a crow hovering over a water body that has been devastated by pollution from sewage lines running into it from the neighbouring city. Under the oil-spill like stains... Through his cityscapes, Jagannath Panda strives to uncover beauty in what most consider mundane, or even ugly. In doing so, the artist challenges his viewers to locate and enjoy the picturesque in their everyday lives. In this piece, Panda uses paint and brocade in his depiction of a crow hovering over a water body that has been devastated by pollution from sewage lines running into it from the neighbouring city. Under the oil-spill like stains in the foreground, however, the crow has discovered the shimmering gold pattern of the embroidered cloth.

Also implicit in this picture is the artist’s critique of the insular existence of city dwellers, especially in terms of the other organisms that inhabit their environments. “The crow hovering over the sewage or waste water on the outskirts of the human settlement reflects an integral human quality of human behaviour. While our front lawns visible to the world are well manicured and tended the backyard, invisible to the public’s gaze, is the dumping site, our junkyard. While the city projects an image of the perfect realisation of the civilized world in its stately buildings and public gardens, the disease infested garbage is relegated to areas where only the wastrels and those low on the pecking order will visit. The image supplants the real” (Deeksha Nath, “An Unlikely Beauty” in Jagannath Panda, Nature Morte exhibition catalogue, 2005).

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