Enthralling Tantric art on display

New Delhi, Feb 16: The idea of Tantra has been shrouded in mystery, esoteric ‘mumbo jumbo’, wild speculation, gross misunderstandings and sheer fantasy. The explicit imagery, lavishly coloured multi-appendaged deities in union with consorts are on on display at an ongoing art exhibition. In the mid-20th century as modern art came under the influence of abstract ideals, with the rise of “Abstract Expressionism” and “Post Painterly Abstraction”, painting fore-fronted western modern art movements where basic symbolic forms became the norm in western modern art. As Indian modern artists came increasingly in contact with Western modernist movements, they recognised increasing similarity with these Intertiol modern art forms and their own indigenous tantric motifs that they began incorporating into their art works. For the most part, the Indian contemporary modern artists were not specifically practicing tantra but they in various creative ways incorporated this familiar imagery into their works of art.

The works of Raza, Sohan Qadri and even M.F. Husain are good examples of this. (IANS)