Spotlight on one of India’s young and talented art practitioner

With his work, Praneet Soi strives to express the encounter of different eras, skillfully synthesized in an archaic two-dimensionality that’s expressed with raw and violent lines, reflecting contemporary society.

His visual idiom recalls that of the 16th-17th century tradition of ‘Rajput’ painting in Rajasthan, and that of the iconographic ‘Kalighat Pata’ from Kolkata. The Indian folk art and its techniques have influenced his style apart from the traits of realism that they carry in a ‘western’ sense of inferring the term.

Among the select few contemporary artists from India who featured in the 2011 Venice Biennale at the country’s first eve official Pavilion, this young and talented artist is greatly influenced by the issues that touch our daily life. For instance, when onion prices touched a record high, housewives took to the streets last year. Food inflation was soaring and this staple of Indian cooking turned a political hot potato.

But for Praneet Soi it proved to be a source of inspiration, as he felt the onion crisis was an issue directly affecting common people in India and beyond. He researched the subject and created a series inspired by food inflation recently on display. The artist took photos of routine trading in Okhla’s fruits & vegetables market. When the inflation reached its peak, he decided to work with geometry for giving them new perspective.

His idea was to draw fresh attention to ubiquitous images many had become accustomed to – those typically paired with inflation news stories. But he did not want to make any political statement. He was quoted as saying: “It’s kind of an interesting story since it depicts the varied textures of India sans being too particular. It’s about something (inflation) that happens all over the world.” However, he is opposed to the idea of making images to narrate a story, and simply wants people to ‘build their own stories from these images.