Untitled

Gulam Rasool Santosh’s neo-tantric paintings from the early 1990s, like the present lot, represent the acme of a deeply personal artistic journey, which began during the artist’s childhood in Kashmir. Born in 1929 to a devout Muslim family in Srinagar, Santosh was originally named Gulam Rasool Dar and embarked on his artistic career as a signboard painter there. In his late twenties, following his controversial elopement with a Hindu girl, the artist adopted his wife’s name, Santosh, as his new surname, rising above patriarchal and religious distinctions and reflecting his evolving worldview and appreciation of the syncretic nature of Indian religious traditions. Over the course of his five decade long career, Santosh’s artistic practice progressed from early academic and Cubist explorations of figuration, to textured landscapes inspired by Kashmir, and finally to a singular focus on the symbolic and meditative forms of tantric philosophy, influenced by a transformative encounter with the ice-formed Shiva lingam in the Amarnath caves in 1964.

This encounter inspired Santosh to delve into Kashmiri Shaivism, an ancient tantric philosophy celebrating the unity of opposites and the cosmic balance between shiva and shakti, the masculine and feminine energies of the Universe. As neo-tantrism gained prominence in Indian art the late 1960s, Santosh emerged as one of its leading proponents, integrating traditional spiritual concepts with the visual clarity and precision of modern abstraction. Reflecting on his work from this period, his friend the writer Shantiveer Kaul notes, “The geometrically precise and symmetrical compositions are seemingly structured in the manner of classical mandalas or yantras, and yet they are neither. An alchemy has taken place and the notional has been transformed into something powerfully immediate and real. Colour is no longer merely an assigned value, form is not just notational. Here, colour is an individually felt light, and on occasion, sound” (S. Kaul, ‘The Journey’, Awakening, A Retrospective of G.R. Santosh, New Delhi, 2011, p. 19).

The present lot, one of the artist’s largest and most powerful meditative paintings, showcases Santosh’s ability to create visual harmony through sharp, symmetrical lines and interlocking geometrical shapes. The blazing orb at the center, possibly symbolizing Lord Shiva’s all-seeing third eye, serves as the focal point of the painting. This iconic motif, central to Hindu mythology, embodies duality – representing self-reflection and wisdom when turned inward, and omnipresent destructive power when focused outward. Below this central form, upright and inverted triangular forms come together to depict the union of shiva and shakti, a core principle of tantric philosophy.

Santosh’s paintings like this monumental canvas invite viewers to reflect on the spiritual forces that form the foundation of the Universe, and reveal the depth of sadhana or meditation involved in the artist’s creative process. Much like his contemporaries, Santosh engaged deeply with the artistic and cultural shifts of his time. However, his embrace of tantric forms sets his practice apart, offering a unique counterpoint to the figural trends in Indian contemporary art, and creating a visual language that is both distinctly Indian and universally resonant. In his practice, the spiritual and the modern come together, transforming ancient philosophies into a bold, contemporary idiom.