When Devajyoti Ray first mailed me about his paintings, my first reaction was “Pseudo realism? HUH?” Then I went to his website, and my reaction changed to “OH MY GOSH, This stuff is not Pseudo-good, it is Really really good!”
Devajyoti graciously sent me some reading material about his style of art, and I followed it up with some research of my own. A few words that caught my attention were “Original”, “Talented”, and “Simplicity”. I agree. His paintings are simple, and yet so fresh. The art is uncomplicated and seems almost real. Ray is a self taught artist, and boy, is he a talented artist! No wonder his some of his work has traveled across the globe, in an amazingly short span.
Pseudorealism, also spelled pseudo-realism, is an artistic and a dramatic technique in which an apparently unreal matter is presented in a fashion that makes it appear real.
Pseudorealism, or the idea that something unreal can still give the impression of the real has a parallel in mathematical field of representation theory. There a Pseudo real representation is a group representation that is equivalent to its complex conjugate, but that is not a real representation.
The idea has also often been used to describe certain set of movies,TV programmes, and video gameswhere special effects, computer generated imagery and 3D animation are used to create a fantasy but which has the impact of a reality based image. However in this context the word Pseudoreal has a negative connotation.
In the field of visual art, however, Pseudorealism as propounded by Devajyoti Ray has a more positive connotation and is considered a well defined genre. In Pseudorealist Art, attempts are made at amalgamating various abstract ideas to create an imagery which has the appeal of reality.
Now for some good news. Devajyoti Ray is showcasing his masterpieces at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai from 14th November to 21st November’2011.
*The title of the exhibition is The Discreet Charm of Pseudorealism
Some more details of his exhibition are:
Total no of paintings : 25
Style : Pseudorealism
Medium : Acrylic on Canvas
Venue: Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Time : 11Am to 7 PM from 14th to 21st November 2011
Well, you lucky people in Mumbai, do visit the exhibition and take home some of the “Discreet Charm of Pseudo-realism”.
I also have here a foreword to Ray’s Exhibition by A R Raju, Art Appreciator and Former Director, Travancore Art Gallery:
Devajyoti Ray is perhaps the most original of all the young breed of artists in 21st century India. Unlike other artists of the present generation, Ray’s works have an unnerving simplicity and directness about them. One does not need to wreck his head to understand what a particular work is all about. Yet the works are brutally post-modern, layered and often satiricial. This unique combination of academic finesse, subtle satire and an unnerving simplicity is what makes Ray unique.
His style of art : Pseudorealism, has received appreciations in such far off places like Arizona, Havana, Ras Al Khaimah, Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur, His works have been acquired by the Walsh Academy at Arizona, National Fine Arts Museum in Havana, many corporate offices in US, Germany, UK, UAE and South Africa and many government agencies within India.
Only with seven solo shows under his belt, Ray has already been featured in two international books on art. The first one : ‘Asian Art’ (published in 2010)and the second, a French one ‘Images changeantes del’Inde et del’afrique’(published in 2011).
This is after a span of almost two years that Ray is exhibiting at Mumbai. This time however his works show a change of subjects and concerns.
Pseudorealism had always been a critique of the media-dominated world where reality does not fully coincide with the truth. These were always the concerns of Ray but this time, his works show a rare maturity and a more layered presentation. Colourful as always, symbolic as always, this time his works have another dimension to it: humour.
The name of the show is quite apt : The Discreet Charm of Pseudorealism.
I can only wish this great artist all the very best. May God bless him
A. R. Raju
- Be There!
To know more about Devajyoti Ray and his art, check out this and this.
Happy Hours Begin Here 
Interesting… ! 🙂
Sounds very interesting! 😀
Wow! iLike 🙂
woah..this looks really cool