Shillong born and Baroda trained Prithpal Singh Sehdave Ladi (b. 1956) is one of the sculptors, emerging in the Indian art scene after the mid 80s who through his practice brought about a paradigm shift in modern-day Indian sculptural activity.

It is, however, not that they had no inspiring predecessors who defied naturalistic and formalistic norms, to prioritize their individual experience and reflection of the here-and-now reality. In an autobiographical note Ladi has said that though his being born a Sikh, brought up in Christian surrounding, being able to speak several languages are not unimportant, are, nevertheless, coincidental. In the same note Ladi implies that none of these conditions, nor even the learnt axioms of doing things are essential. It is only the existence within these conditionalities that is important.

Like what he frequently did in the past, in his present series also, Ladi has taken up a myth, a Biblical myth at that; the myth of Noah’s Ark. The image of the fragile cardboard shelter of a boat, with vacuum inside, holding teeming hapless living kids of speechless animals, at once establish the narratives as no-descriptive allegories, wherein what happen on the surfaces are less important than what are being allegorized. The theme of the surfacial allegorical narrative reveals itself only through a careful insightful viewing. Ladi comes into view as a human being concerned with deceitful human pretense of saving flora and fauna from deluge, and futility of it all. His own comment on the futility comes through the wit and humour with which he manipulates the relative proportions and gestures of the images. One wishes Ladi’s repertoire to grow further.

Pranabranjan Ray