Punarapi Jananam Punarapi Maranam

In his exquisitely detailed paintings and installations, N S Harsha revels in panoramic views of the world. Livened by the empathy and wit with which they are rendered, his canvases often depict what the artist likes to call ‘bird’s-eye views’—of people, places and ways of living and laboring— and form tiny universes unto themselves. They often bring together a multitude of human figures who eat, sleep, marry and fidget about in a series of paintings, whether on canvas or sprawled on floors or walls. Among them are: We Come, We Eat and We Sleep (1999-2000), Mass Marriage (2003) and Cosmic Orphans (2006, site-specific painting at Sri Krishna Temple, Singapore Biennale).

Punarapi Jananam Punarapi Maranam (Again Birth, Again Death) (2013) is a panoramic view of the universe presented as an infinite loop. It takes its title from a Sanskrit hymn on the endless cycle of birth and death and shows a swirling galaxy of stars dotted with images of the planets of the solar system, all caught in a never-ending procession through space and time.

According to the artist, this 79-feet abstract painting began as a large doodle of the universe capturing its deep voids. The enormity of the painting necessitates a walk along its length that reveals from multiple perspectives the luminosity and complexity of an unfathomable universe.