Bari Kumar (India and Los Angeles, CA, b. 1966), "'Standard' Beware of Imitation," signed and dated "Bari Kumar 2003" in lower right corner. A framed, signed, and dated original oil painting on canvas by contemporary rising star Bari Kumar, whose compositions typically feature lonely, desolate landscapes and unexpected fragmentary imagery, symbols, and words as we see here with Kumar's intriguing iconographical mix which includes a section of a crucified Christ (this figure clearly inspired by Renaissance imagery however note that Jesus possesses dark skin - a nod to the Black Christ figure of Mexican retablos), the four arms of a Hindu god, and is missing his head which has been severed from his body. In addition, Kumar has included cross-cultural symbols and boldly delineated words like "Standard" and "Beware of Imitation". The graphic "STANDARD" is a literal reference to Pop Artist Edward Ruscha's notable work entitled "Standard Station" (1966), and both phrases play with the commonly assumed Caucasian phenotype and European identity of Christ. Kumar's work is inspired as much by Los Angeles, where he has lived for approximately thirty years, as his childhood memories from rural southern India. According to Holland Cutter, an art critic for the New York Times, Kumar "destabilizes what was once called identity politics by making his own position all but unlocatable. The web of apparently free-floating cultural fragments that results can be hard to read and in Mr. Kumar's work sometimes feels inorganically pieced together. But he's dealing with difficult material and doing so in intriguing ways that would seem to allow plenty of room for growth." (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/19/arts/art-in-review-bari-kumar.html?_r=) A wonderful avant-garde work by Bari Kumar who masterfully conflates notions of the sacred and the profane as well as various cross-cultural ideas, symbols, and words in a manner that alludes to Jungian notions of collective consciousness and magically manages to be simultaneously "seductive and repulsive" as Kumar has stated he desires. Bari Kumar received his BFA in Graphic Design from Otis/Parsons School of Design, Los Angeles, in 1988. His work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, including the recent exhibition, “Remembering Future,” at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the 2008 Sydney Biennale, and the San Jose Museum of Art. Size: 16" W x 20.125" H (40.6 cm x 51.1 cm); framed 22.875" W x 27.125" H (58.1 cm x 68.9 cm)

Recent Bari Kumar auction sales include "Descent" (2007)which hammered at $38,000 at Christie's, New York, 20 Mar. 2008; "Silence II" (2007) which hammered at $41,024 at Christie's Hong Kong, China, 25 May 2008; and an untitled painting that hammered $30,000 at Christie's, New York, 20 Mar. 2008.

Provenance: Ex-LA, California collection

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