In a series of paintings, scroll drawings and photographs the artist explores his relationship with subjects and diverse as portraiture, the media and the landscape.

Over the past few years Praneet Soi has been dividing his time between India and Amsterdam, where he was until 2003 a participant within the international residency program at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten. Soi has studied at the M.S. University, Baroda and at the University of California at San Diego. He is also an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of painting and sculpture in Maine, USA.

‘Face to Face’ marks Soi’s most recent solo effort in India. Within the body of work displayed here references to Raja Ravi Verma, 17th century Dutch painting and the Kalighat Pata tradition emerge as important markers in the dissemination of the ensuing narrative. If the portraits are to be considered an ode of Raja Ravi Verma they also recall the work of artists such as Frans Hals (Flanders 1580-1666) and Dirck van Baburen (Utrechat 1595-1624). A social report, the scroll drawings reveal, through a very personal narrative, the links that exist between imagery as disparate as that of the media and the landscape.

Moving on into more industrial modes of representation, the photographs explore, with the help of a special lens, the path that Rembrandt used upon his walks just outside of Amsterdam. The thread that links these works together is the constant attempt, by the artist, to triangulate his position in a world where boundaries have ceased to exist. In search of a contemporary language the artist claims, with equal emphasis, the traditions of the Renaissance as well as those that are closer to home.