Outsider Art - Paintings and Commentary by C K Purandare
This set of two CD-ROMs is an attempt to take art to people rather than confining it to galleries and museums. It is meant for anybody and everybody with social conscience. It gives you the privilege of re-visiting paintings time and again, at your convenience , at your home, unlike in an exhibition. It carries the artist’s audio commentary on each painting spelling out the intended meaning behind a painting.

It offers third world perspective on contemporary global issues in a compact audio-visual medium. On 'Outsider Art' first volume there are 45 paintings and on 'Outsider Art II' 47. These are on social issues, on our philosophical premises, political processes, etc. They have been selected mostly from the ‘Art-People’ section on this site.

The CD-ROMs have been particularly well received in educational circles and among social activists.

Features –
- each painting has audio commentary by the artist
- the total run time is about 45 minutes for each CD
- provision for an overview of all the paintings and selection of any particular one
- automatic slide-show
- in case of difficulty in following the audio commentary , text of the commentary on each painting – English/ Marathi
- options for -
language of the commentary - English or Marathi
putting commentary on/off
putting background music on/off
putting text on/off
The CD-ROM works on Windows and MacIntosh platforms. Best viewed at IE 1024X768
Sample text of commentary below
Now we can afford depression
Here we see a woman, may be in her thirties, in luxurious surroundings. Her material needs seem to have been met. And now she wonders, what next. Blue is the dominant color in the painting to show her low spirits.
There is a growing class of such people all over the world who can afford depression. This painting is about that class. Then the redressal of depression also becomes a big business. Stress management techniques like yoga, reiki, feng-shui, etc. are on offer at a cost.
One can certainly understand and empathise with depression of the hungry, of the destitute, of victims of violence. But this depression, of the woman in the painting seems more out of self-centered-ness and a vacant mind.
Now we can afford depression
Off to kill someone else’s father
This painting shows a soldier about to go for a war. He is hugging his daughter. The background shows an army of soldiers of a different race.
The painting is a critique of romanticism of war. Soldiers are looked upon as heroes and then martyrs. Let us not forget that this man is off to kill someone else’s father.
Off to kill someone else’s father
Excerpt of a Review of the CD in Loksatta, a leading Indian newspaper on 20.2.2006
‘Purandare has undertaken a commendable project of painting the agonies of the disprivileged of the society. In the CD one can of course see his skills as a painter. Plus his commentary on each painting compels the viewer to look inward…
The concept of the CD is his own…The disprivileged in Purandare’s paintings are either women or victims of the media or the poor…
He challenges received wisdom on poverty, on war, on Religion, on the concept of the State, on parenthood, on romance, on scientific approach, on gender issues, on charities…
His contention is that his art is not a means of expression of beauty but a means of communication. He does not want us to apply the common criteria of aesthetics like ambiguity or subtlety to his work…
Purandare is an engineer by training and has been active in social research since student days…’
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