Sunday, February 7, 2010

Shiva

I like Indian art for the immensity of objects and design in their imagery and sculpture. But thinking about the notion that people create gods and not gods create people transforms the form of Hindu art into caricature. Indian gods look similar to humans minus coloration and the number of limbs they are endowed. They are just exaggerations of the human being turned into the idea of a deity. But they are not considered a play on people because they have holy status. In this way caricature is not always about exposing the ridiculous or fantasy notions of the body. Instead religious figures in India center on the perfectionism of body image yet remain distant from the actuality of human design.

1 comment:

  1. If you think about it though aren't gods supposed to be all powerful and perfect? I may be way off of the topic/ point, but I thought gods were supposed to be perfect and have a mysticism about them. They can change and turn into whatever the majority decides. I think that a lot of gods are personifications of humanity. In some ways I know that gods are meant to be pretty but I think a lot of time they can be grotesque. However in the end gods are just characters in stories that people come up with to ease pain or make us feel better.

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