An artist who as if, commemorates, a sense of time - both historical and futuristic

Jyothi Basu’s other-worldly landscapes are constructed of architectonic ciphers, which mimic the forms of both culture (writing, figuration, decoration etc) and nature (plants, animals and spores). The fantasy landscapes combine totemic figures, eccentric architecture natural elements and computer circuitry. The artist is as if commemorating, a sense of time - both historical and futuristic - in order to construct a system to make sense of the old and the new. The idea is prompt the viewer to mull over the possibilities of a strange world whose classical character has been overpowered and altered by technology.

His art has been greatly influenced by the nature and scenic settings of Kerala, his home state - palm trees, ponds, canals, a beach, the seascape seen through a coconut grove etc. The geographical basis of many of his compositional variations is a vivacious vista seen from his ancestral home.

After arriving in Mumbai, he has also been inadvertently immersed into chaos endemic to the city, causing yet another intriguing synthesis of opposites in his visual idiom. Both the urban and the rural milieu, imbibing the language of forms and patterns that picture roadways as jungle vines, vegetation as an electronic grid, and trees as concrete towers. His practice also often draws elements from India's popular, all-pervasive visual culture and abiding decorative traditions, yet placed within a universal context.

His ‘Resurrection Series’ highlight how we often forget our history in our advancement. It points out how the contemporary can only exist and is made possible by the apparently neglected historical buttress. Further elucidating his methodology, a catalog essay to his exhibition (2003) at Artists' Centre, Mumbai (courtesy The Fine Art Resource) mentions: “Dwelling on his work, we realize it is an interior time-zone and location, developed around perspectives of the personality: the landscapes are landscapes of the self.

“Jyothi Basu takes the eye captive, by means of small differentials of scale and tone that continually alter the dialectical connection between the figure and the backdrop of natural objects portrayed. Paying intense attention to the practice of picture-making as a puzzle or game, he engages the viewer's energies fully.”