The artist who refuses to stand still

MOST artists find comfort in a signature style, a recognizable stamp they never abandon. But for BD Dethan, that very idea feels like a cage. For over two decades, he has been deliberately breaking his mould, shifting styles whenever familiarity starts to feel like repetition.

- THRAYAMBAKA AB

‘Parinamam’, his 34th exhibition being held at Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan, could thus be called a record of his evolution. "Since 2000, I have exhibited almost every year. I cannot stick to one style forever. Once my mind says, ‘That’s enough,’ I end it and move on," he says.

Dethan’s artistic journey has been a restless evolution. His famous ‘Kali’ series, created over six or seven years in pen and ink, became a turning point. Stark, haunting, and deeply unsettling, the series was born from meticulous preparation.

"If you ask me what the most important work of my career is, I would say ‘Kali’ without hesitation," he admits. The inspiration, he says, came with a story — part myth, part social allegory. An imagining of humanity as a mix of demonic impulse and envy, gifted with compassion only as a last-minute divine correction.