Purushartha

The title of this series of charcoal drawings by the young painter and sculptor Dilesh Hazare is Purushartha, the Sanskrit word for ‘the goal of human endeavour’. The four purusharthas are dharma, artha, kama and moksha or righteousness, prosperity, pleasure and liberation. It’s clear which goal the subjects here are engaged in pursuing. Hazare’s nudes are classically beautiful with sculpted, taut muscles and full, rounded breasts, but what makes them interesting are the fluid shapes they seem to take when fused together. The artist uses only gradations of colour to demarcate one body from another—the male is powerful and black, the female is supple and white—and then merges the two forms to create a unit that’s completely immersed in itself and oblivious to the world around. These paintings are a part of our first digital exhibition, Body and Soul.