We seem to have come a long way from Roy's statement of the validity of a folk style as contemporary expression when we see Santa Manna's The Powerlessness of Being Divine at his latest exhibition at the Jharokha Art Gallery in Hauz Khas Village. On the face of it, it is yet another ten-handed being, carrying the unlikely combination of a trident and a lotus. But a closer look shows it to be clay, with a collection box at its feet. It is no more than a begging device. Seeing it one is also reminded of the hypocrisy of a society where women are oppressed, abused and degraded, but serve as the models for awesome goddesses.

This subtle critical expression shows Manna to be a mere descendent of the irreverent spirit that gave Kalighat paintings their enormous popularity. But he is not content to merely repeatthat style. He has evolved his own method of building up the image layer by layer, a device that is both contemporary as it is painterly. It is this treatment that distinguishes his work from that of so many others.

He has a capacity of charging seemingly conventional images with unusual elements. His sage sits under a tree whose leaves are hand-fans, reminding us of the enormous effort and expense devotees undergo to keep a saint living simply. In the same way, we have a terrified goat with a mask of Kali on a wall, highlighting the irrationality of killing and offering live sacrifices to the lifeless.

However, such a subtle approach backed up by painterliness has its own pitfalls. On the other hand, one must guard against being too clever by half, and on the other, avoid being decorative.