120
Unicode 2011
Bronze,Coin and Concrete
183X152X 117cm
The sculpture of cosmic Nataraja, the most typical symbol of Indian art, is an arrested moment in time .It shows Shiva moving to the rhythmic drum in his hand.a pulse that measures time,as he dances the dance of destruction-leading to death so that there can be rebirth,which are the only real markers of personal time .In L.N. Tallur's Unicode, the exploding force of the cosmos within which we imagine Shiva would be dancing appears to now be entombed,in a ball of concrete and money, within a traditional Prabha, or flaming halo, that celebrates this new god.
Unicode is a language of characters that forms a common global platform,able to transcend medium and inevitably absorb symbols from all over the world. Dose the threat of globalization reduce us to sameness? Tallur's Unicode god of destruction and time may be covered in concrete and money, there may not even be a god inside, or perhaps concrete and money is the new god of time and destruction-bur its packaging of history and embedded memory id still unmistakably Indian.
- Naman P.Ahuja
photowork