Web of love

Catch Satadru Sovan Banduri's work from global cyberspace, social networking and phantasmatic visions of race and gender

Web of love

Catch Satadru Sovan Banduri's work from global cyberspace, social networking and phantasmatic visions of race and gender

Canvas, paper and digital imageryu00a0-- Satadru Sovan Banduri uses them all to bring out on global cyberspace, social networking and phantasmatic visions of race and gender. His works are thumbnail portraits of virtual lives of netizens, which are gathered in this solo exhibition.

Cyber babes lost in her scrap

Cyber call
Banduri's earlier works observed the multifarious aspects of existence in a metropolis. His new exhibition, Cyberomanticisms, looks at cyber-relationships and focuses on the blurring boundaries of gender, sexuality and cyber-spaces that people offer as extensions to their personalities.

"My current work is all about cyber journey where social networking websites are playing a predominant role in one's life. It's like a dreamland where people have a floating relationship," reveals Banduri, who is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in Digital Art and New Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.

Colourful catch
The colour palate in his works ranges from romantic and soothing lavender, pink with a combination of blue, that reflect human figures, buildings, birds and flowers. "I try and reflect whatever that I get from the society around me. The medium is multi-disciplinary and involves a lot of research on relationships.

The process took me almost two years where I first interact and meet people, note down their chatting, illustrate the whole thing, shoot my friends, make a layout on photoshop and then it gets transformed on big canvases," says the 30-year-old Satadru who has done his MFA in painting from Visva Bharati, Kala Bhavan at Santiniketan, West Bengal.

"The cyber personalities that interest me the most are the ones that are heightened versions of their real selves and those that are very distant from reality. For example, women trying to appear far more alluring than they really are or men more manly than they actually are," he concludes.

Cyberomanticisms
When: April 21 to 24
At: Alliance Francaise, 72, Lodhi Estate
Timings: 11 AM to 7 PM
When: April 25 to 30
At: Gallery Montage Arts 294/2 Chattarpur Pahari Dhan Mill Road, Mehrauli
Timings: 11 AM to 7 PM