M.F. Hussain

M.F. Hussain is a famous Indian contemporary painter that has roused a bit of controversy over the years by his work. I actually ran into him last year when I was in Bombay at a restaurant. The strangest thing about him is that he doesn't wear any shoes, anywhere. Apparently for the last 40 years he's given up shoes and believes its healtheir not to wear shoes because walking barefoot has some sort of accupunctural healing effect. I guess all artists have their quirks.

Whats interesting about his work is that he's muslim yet paints contemporary pictures of Hindu deities. Many have accused him of 'butchering' Indian culture by painting the gods as if they were normal people and in a very sensuous way. He even introduced the idea of public performance art into his work, by in the 80s painting images of godesses in public areas and in the end covering them with white paint to conceal them on the canvasses. His paintings have a very primitive style, by their simple use of line and bold, solid colors.

This painting is meant to depict one of the Indian godesses, Saraswati, and it was highly controversial and tried to get rid of as it painted her as a 'sensuous nymph' unlike how she is normally depicted.

He has a sort of interesting cubist, abstract style that I really like.
This painting is meant to show the British reign on India.

Mother Teresa

Ganesh