ArtVantage (UK) has released a set of phenomenal Psyche-Centric artworks titled “Back to the Imaginary” done by emerging Indian artist Samij Datta based on seminal works of French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan

Press Release

7th January, 2008, London: ArtVantage (UK) has released a set of phenomenal Psyche-Centric artworks titled “Back to the Imaginary” done by emerging Indian artist Samij Datta. Done in an expressionist mode, the artworks are based on seminal works of French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan and will be exhibited in Paris later this year.

The recent series “Back to the Imaginary”- is in the form of a journey which the artist takes to reveal what the child sees and hears in a pre-Oedipal stage/pre-linguistic stage (Lacan’s Imaginary). “In ArtVantage, we support works of art that are unique and have a value in a system that supports cross-cultural studies and analytical discourse covering subjects ranging from psychoanalysis to anthropology. Art has to evolve in a harmonious way that encourages ‘humanism’, ‘liberalism’, ‘individualism’ and other Renaissance ideals to broaden our perspective in a new way. Going back to history will fetch us a new pre-condition for a much needed change in education- to measure knowledge and understanding”, says, Jeff Ross, Director, ArtVantage.

“Samij’s artworks follow the psycho-sexual development of a child. The visual linguistics of his work includes blotches of red, blue and black over large areas of yellow hue on paper in an asymmetrical splash of the brush. Since it’s development of a child recorded by Samij as he travels back and forth into the unconscious of his infancy and childhood, the series of artworks slowly feature birds, human faces etc as the child goes on learning the objects around him in terms of metaphors and metonymies”, says, Joy Roy Choudhury, Creative Consultant, ArtVantage. In the artwork “Entering Mirror Stage: Child Idealisations”, a figure of a woman in a blue hat appears- the child by now has a sense of his ego and sees his mother distinctly different from him and from his body which in the Imaginary stage was a dyadic relation of blurred identities. These dream-like states are best expressed beautifully in Samij’s art and every splash of colour is like what Lacan calls ‘jouissance’ quips Joy Roy Choudhury, ArtVantage.

 ArtVantage encourages art lovers, critics, educationists to send their views and comments on these projects. 

For more information on exhibition in Paris, please contact: Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com or e.aryans@gmail.com and at +91 9830067159 (India)/+44 75073806595