Pratul Dash has been preoccupied with the fear and fantasies that accelerate contemporary life, constantly changing it in unwarranted ways.While the artist has been sharpening skills of rendering the painted surface with a seductive realism, he also continues to seek ways and means to address the predicament of living in a precarious world that has pushed itself to the edge. The monstrous scaffoldings witnessed in his works,alluding to mindless urban expansion in the metropolis, capturing views of construction sites that threaten human life and labour.It has been important for the artist to reflect upon and share the implications of a world, not so easy to comprehend and yet surrounding us.
Having migrated from Burla in Odisha (Orissa) to Delhi, Pratul reminisces growing up close to the natural habitat, the Hirakud dam reservoir and mountain ranges where birds and animals co-habited the environment. The lush flora and fauna of his childhood that he left behind,deeply impacted his mind and his artistic quest. The self as protagonist appears at times as an adolescent boy and at other times, he appears as a witness to the fast disappearing natural habitat around. His paintings lure us, the viewers, into landscapes that amplify the twilight zone, situating us in undefined locales, perhaps imaginary sites, to contemplate upon the world that at once seems familiar and yet strange and unsettling in its configuration. Pratul juxtaposes motifs obliquely hinting at depleting resources and waste of water and land, disappearing trees and disoriented animal world.