One meaning-making procedure that Sudhanshu Sutar employs in his picture making is to assemble all the images that come into the immediate world of his studio. Sudhanshu utilizes his studio as an image bank where all the objects lying around casually, as well as the carefully selected objects that he brings in to his studio, begin to migrate into his paintings, as if, for a second life.
While Sudhanshu references Indian Maharajas of the British colonial period in this series, it is interesting to read a range of meanings into these metaphors. Is it a kind of feudal nostalgia in a country where people have always loved and respected their kings, a country where a people's revolution has only been possible because it was against Imperial foreigners and not against our own native rulers? In such a context Sudanshu's obsession with Gandhiji takes on a different charge altogether. Or do the rajas refer to contemporary life where High Networth Individuals (HNI) resemble the erstwhile Maharajas, making this series of work a critique of our contemporary economic situation, where only a very small percentage of the population lead ‘royal’ lives, the vast majority living in the same abject poverty as they did in colonial times.
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