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About the Artist: Bari Kumar

B ari Kumar poignantly layers together archetypal imagery in a process of fragmentation—textural, figural, and symbolic—that subversively conflates cross-cultural traditions. Kumar’s appropriation of cross-cultural symbols such as the crucifix or the swastika, or his use of phrases of text in English, Spanish, Hindi, or Tamil, is not only intended to question preconceived notions of East and West, but also to underline the multivalent meaning of signs that define the collective consciousness according to Jung. The body is a recurring motif—disembodied, sometimes bloodied, torsos levitate against a desolate background reminiscent of Spanish and Mexican retables—that reflects Kumar’s desire for his work to be at once “seductive and repulsive.” Kumar’s work is highly autobiographical, drawing upon images gleaned from living between two cultures (India and America). Images such as the Christ on the Cross in Descent (2007) blend together Christian imagery with Hindu iconography. Christ is depicted with blue skin in a clear reference to the Hindu deity Krishna. The Christ image is veiled by an inverted mirror image of the same figure painted in outline, along with a series of small crosses painted in a pattern across his body. The image of the snake eating the fish immediately to the right is inspired by the popular tradition of Kalighat painting practiced in Bengal, where symbols are often used to represent proverbs. The image of a snake eating a fish has sometimes been interpreted as a reference to the dangers of engagement in pleasures of the flesh; the difficulty of extricating oneself from pleasures of the flesh is equated with the fish being ensnared by the jaws of the snake. Returning to Kumar’s painting, directly beneath this image is coincidentally written “The Descent of Man,” the title of Charles Darwin’s essay on evolutionary theory and sexual selection. Kumar’s ongoing examination of cultural symbols is highly personal and relates to a deep affinity for graphic art. Kumar was inspired by the painted signboards, calendar art featuring devotional images of Hindu deities, and