Siddharth Shingade recreates Tuljapur, where he grew up, in his artworks as he remembers it – through the prism of his memories, visions and imagination. Imbued with nostalgia, his richly layered acrylics celebrate the resilience of his people. ... Toy sellers, farmers, gipsies and everyday folk are recurring protagonists in his work, as are mythological beings like Krishna, Govardhan and Buddha. Mythology is seamlessly woven into rustic scenes – the characters in Shingade’s timeless world are part-earthly and part-mythical, and in a state of oneness with the landscape around them. His works are rooted in the vast, drought-prone region of his homeland, Marathwada — an ode to its land, soil, light, people and way of life. Clothed in diaphanous textures and mesmerising gradations of colour, the dusky figures with kohl-rimmed eyes are depicted in the dark tones of the soil that pervades this region. Steeped in mood, emotion and lyricism, his art goes beyond sentimentalism and honours the artistic heritage of the region, the rustic, now-forgotten ways of life, and the endurance of the people from this arid landscape.

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