Friday, June 23, 2006

Devajyoti Ray, one of India's youngest artists, widely being considered as the most promising among the new generation of artists in India (read article on Ray) is the most prominent proponent of this new genre of Art.

Ray, who had been involved with the Art scene in Calcutta and Delhi for a very long time has only in recent times took to full-time painting. And in doing so he has grafted the idea of pseudo-realism from the film world into the Art world. However as Ray says, '"...A film maker never makes a pseudo-real film, it is identified as pseudo-real by the critic." An Artist who delves into the pseudo-real representation, does it deliberately. Hence "pseudo-realism as an Art genre is distinctly different for Pseudo-realism in films", insists Ray.

There is yet another difference between Pseudo-real Art and Pseudo-real Films. While in the context of films, the word 'Pseudo-realism' was coined more as a critic of films that seemed to pass pure fantasies as reality. To that extent the word was used more for negative criticism than for anything else. In the context of static Art like paintings, Pseudo-realism refers to a concious effort on the part of artist to play with abstract elements and thereby create a new balance akin to reality. Thus in the context of visual static Art, the word has a more positive connotation.