Anant Joshi invents a circus of the past: forms that populate his work act out stories of political upheaval and social turmoil in the country. He plunges us into this troubled world with the satire of a semi-cartoonist, semi-toymaker, and artist.
Inhabiting multi-coloured interiors and boxed in by the edges of the canvas, Joshi’s figures reference found photographs, newspaper clippings and cartoons. His protagonists appear faceless, ghoul-like creatures, that dissolve into their psychedelic surroundings. The artist is reluctant to entirely reveal its intricacies repeatedly veiling his work using techniques of masking and camouflage that often divert the viewer.
He creates a surface alive with webs, intersected networks, and hidden beams of incredible colour, only to be disrupted by black dematerialised forms in their very centre; shifting our focus from the primary subject. Yet, a multitude of figures emerge from the layers, where forms forge to reveal themselves.
Tactical distractions, misinformation, and political strategies are natural subjects to him, and come to the fore again. Here a sense of history and longing is seen through the contemporary gaze.