Jangarh Singh Shyam (b.1960)

Centre Pompidou, Paris, Les Magiciens de la Terre, 1989

The Adivasi artist Jangarh Singh Shyam was "discovered" in 1981 in his home village, by a team lead by the artist Jagdish Swaminathan. Inspired by the timeless vision of tribal art, Swaminathan traveled with Shyam to Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal, and encouraged the young artist to experiment with new (and traditional) materials and techniques. Often depicting the natural world, Shyam's menagerie is a vibrant, playful, mythical creation. "What we know as Gond art is a whole new beast called Jangarh Kalam — the style of Jangarh [Singh Shyam]. Jangarh's clever dots, delicate lines and lively menagerie of animals catapulted dozens of artists to the façade of the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly building. Udayan Vajpayi and Vivek argue in their book Jangarh Kalam, that if Jangarh's style came from anywhere outside his fertile mind, it came from the pointilistic tattoos that Gond women sport." (Nisha Susan, "Gond Art is Becoming a Rage Abroad", Tehelka Magazine, Vol. 7, Issue 30, July 31, 2010)