Sohan Jakhar

Sohan Jakhar is a young artist who represents the true Indian spirit in the face of globalisation through his art. He was born in Sikar, Rajasthan in 1978 and currently works in Jaipur. He received his Master's and Bachelor's degrees in painting from the Rajasthan School of Art in Jaipur.

Sohan h...

Sohan Jakhar is a young artist who represents the true Indian spirit in the face of globalisation through his art. He was born in Sikar, Rajasthan in 1978 and currently works in Jaipur. He received his Master's and Bachelor's degrees in painting from the Rajasthan School of Art in Jaipur.

Sohan has five solo shows in London, Paris, Singapore, Bristol, Mumbai, and New Delhi, as well as numerous group shows. His works were also included in the "Indian & Southeast Asian Art" auction at Sotheby's in New York.

He employs his talent to address both his personal relationships with cities and those he has with heritage. The decorative motifs floating in the background are from a painted fresco on the Havelis (Mansion) of Sekhawati, the artist's hometown where he spent his childhood. Along with this impression of motherland, the impact of modern technology can be seen in his paintings, as he has a strong command of computer art software. He explores his paintings with his technical ability.

Sohan's most recent body of work focuses on the visual dynamics of a roadside bazaar. Sohan Street Bazaars, according to Sohan, are surrounded by visual stimulation, noisy visual chaos of vendors and hawkers. These hawkers, or street vendors, dominate the busiest urban landscapes. A completely new world of images, sounds, and gestures is emerging and gaining traction here. Roadside stall images foreshadow and announce cultural and technological shifts.

These street vendors provide a critical perspective on the strategic role of popular Indian imagery from the bazaar "not as an object to be seen or a text to be read, but as a process wherein social and subjective identities are formed, ushering in a new trajectory while retaining cultural traditions." According to Sohan, these roadside stalls dramatise changing personal and social values as well as the formation of ideological conceptions of the nation itself. The visuals of these stalls evolved as a result of major cultural and technological transformations that occurred in the previous decade, including the impact of consumerism.

These vendors appear to represent a scenario in a constant state of transition and movement. His aesthetic delineates the complex inter-relationships of India's urban & semi-urban scenario.