Step into artist Birendra Pani’s latest exhibition and mythology seems to have wandered into a futuristic cityscape. A Shiva face, its third eye flung open, gazes out with an unmistakably contemporary presence. Nearby, Vishnu’s Matsyavatar is no longer confined to ancient scripture but imagined as a fictional saviour hurtling towards Earth. Across the canvases, gods, avatars and symbols drift through geometric cityscapes, suspended somewhere between myth and modernity.
This interplay lies at the heart of Neo, Urban, Avatar: A Mythopoesis of the Contemporary Times-II, the Odisha artist’s latest exhibition in Delhi. Over the last three decades, Pani has developed a visual language where Indian mythology, urban life and surrealism continually overlap. The seeds of this imagination were sown early. Growing up in Odisha with sculptor parents, Pani spent much of his childhood sketching through mathematics classes while dreaming of studying at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. That dream eventually came true. The legacy of Nandalal Bose and the guidance of artists such as Jogen Chowdhury shaped his understanding of line, form and the Santiniketan aesthetic. Later, at Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, mentor Bhupen Khakhar encouraged him to develop an independent visual vocabulary.
The result is what Pani calls a “recontextualisation of Odisha’s artistic heritage.” Drawing from the state’s pattachitra traditions and temple sculpture, he places familiar mythological figures within contemporary narratives that feel at once ancient and futuristic. One figure returns again and again—the Varaha, Vishnu’s boar incarnation, a form deeply embedded in Odisha’s sculptural history. For Pani, its appeal lies in its ambiguity. “The mythological figure is a blend of human and animal. It lies at the cusp of real and unreal, eventually making the artwork surreal,” says the 56-year-old artist. Colour, too, becomes an unmistakable protagonist. Brilliant oranges, electric blues and rich vermilions pulse through the paintings, echoing the vibrant palette of pattachitra art while lending the mythological figures an almost cinematic intensity.
Across the exhibition, floating cubes and hexagons interrupt the compositions. Familiar objects quietly enter the frame. “I like to use motifs of medicines and capsules,” Pani says. Look closely and another familiar image reveals itself: Salvador Dali’s melting clock. “I resonate with Dali’s watch owing to the idea of impermanence of time,” he says. Like Dali’s dreamscapes, Pani’s paintings refuse to separate reality from imagination. Instead, they create a world where ancient avatars, architecture, and melting clocks inhabit the same visual universe.
When & Where:
Neo, Urban, Avatar: A Mythopoesis of the Contemporary Times-II; IIC, Delhi; Till July 14