Silhouette in the Graveyard

2018 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

1:22 minutes

Chitra Ganesh


Silhouette in the Graveyard is part of a suite of animated videos by Chitra Ganesh titled The Scorpion Gesture . All five videos incorporate figures and themes from Buddhist mythology and dialogue directly with artworks from the Rubin Museum, for which the videos were originally produced.? The central figure of Silhouette in the Graveyard is Maitreya, the Future Buddha, whose arrival on Earth was prophesied to usher in a new age. Merging digital animation and imagery from contemporary news media, the video depicts Maitreya’s evolution and movements through psychedelic and celestial landscapes while their silhouette mirrors news footage of civil protest, natural disasters, violence, and suffering. Ganesh’s video draws parallels between the myth of Maitreya’s apocalyptic arrival and the social, political, and ecological crises of contemporary life. As it is now commonplace to be inundated daily with imagery of turmoil, unrest, and catastrophe, the artist observes that the chaos associated with Maitreya’s accession offers an analogy for the varied forms of upheaval that saturate the news and social media.


Spanning printmaking, sculpture, and video, Chitra Ganesh’s work draws from broad-ranging material and historic reference points, including surrealism, expressionism, Hindu, Greek and Buddhist iconographies, South Asian pictorial traditions, 19th-century European portraiture and fairy tales, comic books, song lyrics, science fiction, Bollywood posters, news and media images. The process of automatic writing is central to the practice of the Indian-American artist and emerges from dissecting myths to retrieve critical moments of abjection, desire, and loss. By layering disparate materials and visual languages, Ganesh considers alternate narratives of sexuality and power.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Activism Through Art: Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova On the Legacy of Judy Chicago
© » OBSERVER

Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova On the Legacy of Judy Chicago | Observer Nadya Tolokonnikova puts it plainly when I ask her what Judy Chicago means to her: “Judy is the Godmother of feminist art.” Judy Chicago, 2023...

Transparências de lar (Home Transparencies)
© » KADIST

Ilana Bar

2017

One of Ilana Bar’s best-known works is the series Transparências de lar (Home Transparencies) in which, for four years, the artist photographed her family’s rural home in Atibaia where her father lives with his two brothers and Ilana’s own brother, all three with Down Syndrome...

Ketchup Session: Brook Andrew & Mariana Castillo Deball
© » KADIST

Ketchup Session: Brook Andrew & Mariana Castillo Deball, hosted by Ivan Muñiz Reed Wednesday, September 29, 11 am PDT | 1 pm CDT The event will be live-streamed on YouTube ...

Rubell Museum in Miami to Open in New 100,000-Square-Foot Space in December - via ARTNEWS
© » LARRY'S LIST

The family’s collection has been located in Miami’s Wynwood district since 1993....

An exercise of privilege: “The Class Room” at M1 Peer Pleasure 2019
© » ARTS EQUATOR

An exercise of privilege: "The Class Room" at M1 Peer Pleasure 2019 | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Photo: Zinkie Aw August 18, 2019 By Adeeb Fazah (1,400 words, 6-minute read) When I signed up for The Class Room , a participatory theatre piece created and facilitated by veteran theatre practitioners Li Xie, Kok Heng Leun and Jean Ng, I was expecting a thought-provoking experience, with meaningful exchanges with people from different walks of life about issues of poverty...

Art Collector Jack Siebert Presents "High Humanity" Group Exhibition in Paris - via Hypebeast
© » LARRY'S LIST

A new group exhibition in Paris that draws from philosopher Auguste Comte's teachings on positivism....

Mushroom Cloud
© » KADIST

Raymond Pettibon

2000

The five works included in the Kadist Collection are representative of Pettibon’s complex drawings which are much more narrative than comics or cartoon...

Franck André Jamme - Poetry Reading
© » KADIST

Drinks at 6pm, event at 7pm Poet and curator Franck André Jamme will read from his new book of poems To the Secret (La Presse, 2015) and discuss with BAM/PFA Director, Lawrence Rinder , his involvement with the tradition of Tantric art as well as his curatorial contribution to the groundbreaking 1989 exhibition, Magiciens de la terre ...

Controversy Erupts in Spain Over Easter Poster Featuring Youthful Depiction of Jesus, Spain (News)
© » ARTEFUSE

Controversy Erupts in Spain Over Easter Poster Featuring Youthful Depiction of Jesus, Spain (News) - ArteFuse A poster featuring a depiction of Jesus created to promote Easter week festivities in Seville, Spain, has sparked a heated controversy both within the country and on social media...

The Download Wars, Or, How iTunes Became Relevant Again
© » ARTSJOURNAL

Bite me! How Apple’s download chart became a new battleground for pop – and politics | Music | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Skip to navigation Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj: fans have rallied behind them on the Apple Music store...

Curator Katerina Gregos On the Forthcoming Exhibit “WOMEN, together”
© » OBSERVER

An Interview with Curator Katerina Gregos | Observer Since the Greek curator Katerina Gregos was appointed the artistic director of Athens’ National Museum of Contemporary Art in 2021, she has not only helped transform it and build its collection but also helped cement its place on the global cultural map...

Striking Light Paintings Set Against a Fiery Red Sky at Bolivia’s Uyuni Salt Flat
© » MODERN MET PHOTOGRAPHY

Fiery Red Sky Makes for Unique Light Paintings at Uyuni Salt Flats Home / Photography Striking Light Paintings Set Against a Fiery Red Sky at Bolivia’s Uyuni Salt Flat By Jessica Stewart on December 8, 2023 The collaboration between visual artist Eric Paré and contemporary dancer Kim Henry continues as the duo traveled to Bolivia's Uyuni Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni)...

Pantone names its 2024 Color of the Year: Peach Fuzz.
© » ARTSY

Pantone names its 2024 Color of the Year: Peach Fuzz...

Ketchup Sessions
© » KADIST

KADIST is hosting a monthly series of ‘catch-up’ sessions, with short saucy presentations by artists around the world—artists that we’ve been following but haven’t visited in a while...

Ticket Alert: Nicki Minaj Returns to the Bay Area After 9 Years
© » KQED

How to Get Presale Tickets for Nicki Minaj's Oakland Concert | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer Arts & Culture Ticket Alert: Nicki Minaj Returns to the Bay Area After 9 Years Nastia Voynovskaya Dec 11 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Facebook Share-FB Twitter Share-Twitter Email Share-Email Copy Link Copy Link Nicki Minaj attends the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 27, 2017 in Inglewood, California...

Out of the Shadows II
© » KADIST

Willie Doherty

1997

“I focused on how the political and physical merged” analyzes Willie Doherty...

Pantone Palette Proclamation: Peach Fuzz Takes the Lead for 2024
© » ARTLYST

In the kaleidoscope of hues that paint our world, Pantone, the ultimate authority on colour, has declared 2024 as the year of "Peach Fuzz." The post Pantone Palette Proclamation: Peach Fuzz Takes the Lead for 2024 appeared first on Artlyst ....

Book Review: “Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre”
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Book Review: "Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre" | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles September 12, 2018 By Felipe Cervera (1600 words, eight-minute read) Excavations, Interrogations, Krishen Jit & Contemporary Malaysian Theatre , edited by Charlene Rajendran, Ken Takiguchi and Carmen Nge, is a long overdue resource that sheds light on important aspects of the cultural, artistic, and political histories of Malaysian contemporary theatre—and, by extension, some medullar elements of Singaporean theatre too...

Ketchup Session: Tuan Andrew Nguyen & Pratchaya Phinthong
© » KADIST

Ketchup Session: Tuan Andrew Nguyen & Pratchaya Phinthong, hosted by Zoe Butt...