Slayers in the Frescoes

An exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum Art connects the superhero narrative in ancient Indian art with comics.

In a desertified cultural landscape, you’ll be forgiven for wondering if this is an oasis. No, it’s not. Connecting the superhero-narrative in ancient Indian art with comics, Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India’s Comics, a new exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, explores this theme. It’s the first major museum to showcase Indian comics. Delineating the art and heroic continuity within traditional paintings and modern comics, the show’s curators, Julie Romain and Tushara Bindu Gude, have juxtaposed an 1850 watercolour from Paithan (Maharashtra) of Hanuman bearing the life-saving herb Sanjeevani, with a 2008 pen and ink drawing, Devi Vanquishes Bala, sourced from Liquid Comics. The epic battle between good and evil rages until 7 February 2010.

comicsIndian artLos Angeles