1990–1999
In this period, Suraj Ghai’s constant engagement with Christ as a metonymic figure takes the centre stage and his work Orgy at His Recurring Crucification (1993) becomes a castigation of our life and times, where innocence and goodness is sacrificed again and again, while the neo-liberal, post-modern party continues with unabashed enthusiasm. This period also sees a solo show of Cynical Drawings organized at Alliance Françoise, tying in with Ghai’s abiding concern with innocence in a world taken over by profanity. Thus Woman with Birds, Naked Prince and the Birds, Landscape in Twilight, Little Girls Frolic in the Garden in Twilight take us to nature as a place of regeneration. Autumn and Nude in the Stream too echo the same theme. On the other hand, Civilization as a Totem of Oppression, Joys and Woes of Life, and Black Flowers series convey the dissolution and degeneration in society.
Little Girls Frolic, V2 (1990), 24 x 24″, Oil on Canvas
Landscape in the Twilight (1990), 16 x 16″, Oil on Canvas
Black Flowers – Ravages of War 2 (1991), 27 x 18″, Oil on Canvas
Birds are Tender as a Woman’s Breast (1992), 24 x 24″, Oil on Canvas
The Joys and Woes of Life (1992), 31 x 31″, Oil on Canvas
Orgy at His Recurring Crucification (1992), 48 x 42″, Oil on Canvas
Demons of a New Hope (1994), 27 x 40″, Oil on Canvas
Nude in the Stream 2 (1995), 24 x 21″, Oil and COnvas
Autumn (1995), 20 x 20″, Oil on Canvas
Naked Prince and the Birds (1996), 24 x 24″, Oil on Canvas
The Reverance (1996), 24 x 24″, Oil on Canvas
Melancholy of a Lover of the Olden Times (1996), 28.4 x 28.4″, Oil on Canvas
The Reverance 2 (1996), 20 x 20″, Oil on Canvas
Swan – Snake (1997), 31.5 x 23.75″, Oil on Canvas
Silence (1997), 20 x 20″, Oil on Canvas
Dejected Woman (1997), 18 x 18″, Oil on Canvas
Desert Night – Rajasthan (1999), 24 x 24″, Oil on Canvas
Suraj Ghai 