In a World of Gods and Goddesses: The Mystic Art of Indra Sharma
Showcased to dazzling effect here is the Hindu religious art of India National Award winner Sharma. Often featured in publications on Hindu spirituality (the late A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, was a close friend and patron), Sharma's paintings are colorful, vivid, and lush, with great attention to the details of clothing, jewelry, and the world of nature. In some ways, his paintings resemble traditional Christian hagiographic art, with androgynous figures (divine or human), carefully draped garments, and symbolic items in profusion. They are highly realistic not to say photographic yet they depict the unseen personages of mythology from Ganesh to Shiva. The book, in fact, is intended as a visual introduction to Hindu gods and goddesses, with Bae's thorough text clarifying the religious meaning of all the artistic detail. A practitioner of Yoga, Bae has spent the last three years living in India as a monk. A beautifully produced and relatively inexpensive large-format book, this is warmly recommended for public and academic libraries. James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.