Contemporary Indian artists relocate photographic references on canvas,

Several contemporary Indian artists relocate photographic references on canvas, impart a new dimension to them and explore socio-political concerns as well as personal identity. TV Santhosh appropriates references from such sources as magazines, newspapers and television.

The influence of print media is reflected in the photographic quality of his works, both in their clarity and composition. The artist blends both the negative and positive within one single frame. A photographic negative is usually the 'original' from which a photograph is printed, and so lies the paradox of his method of revealing the concealed truths of war. The inversion of the image gives the picture a new context and meaning as the darkest areas in the original image are transformed into the brightest highlights.

Bharti Kher’s practice encompasses digital photography that continues to explore her interest in kitsch and popular consumer culture. In her three digital photographs from the “Hybrids” series, she fashions women, children and everyday household objects with animal features. Her clever substitution of animals for people enables her to explore ingrained elements of behavior — enveloped by civility covering underlying human urges. Also, the hybrid character of the images becomes a metaphor for and a spectacularly physical embodiment of the ever contradictory human nature in the context of globalized urban society.

Riyas Komu is another prominent contemporary Indian artist who has chosen to embrace photorealism. One of the torchbearers of photorealism, so to say, he is renowned for his larger-than-life realist portraits of common an uncommon subjects like migrants and football players. On the other hand, Bose Krishnamachari, who created quite a few photorealistic works in the early part of his careers, now prefers installation and video.

However, most artists are wary of falling in a pattern or being labeled as photo-realists. Expressing her concerns, Prajakta Potnis has stated: “I find it too deadening to simply refer to a photograph – it is unemotional and dry.” Instead she prefers sourcing her visuals from at a live object, interplay of light & shade; to explore the possibility of transforming it into a work of art rife with human touch and emotions. Several contemporary Indian artists, inspired by real-life images, are raising issues relevant to socio-political or personal identities.