Sood’s narratives are non linear and seemingly absurd. Fragmented narratives tells  a story  of an unfinished tale and painted photographs with bold, accentuated hues make places look like mindscape expansion of the consciousness. There is a fascinating enchantment about his works that make them look distant and unreal yet at the same time strikingly emotive and soulful. The highly conceptual title of his works like “Moist Fear” or “Love never dies a natural death” act as cues inviting the viewer to take flight into his world of fantasy and surrealism.

Kartik Sood, Moist Fear, 2011, site-specific installation, dimensions variable, paintings on paper and semitransparent cloth, wood, glass, ceramic  

His work often engages multiple protagonists and bespeaks of a political reality that unfolds at various locations like the cobbler's kiosk with graffiti of Gandhi and Ambedkar, in abandoned homes, expanses of landscapes and in empty spaces of solitude. There is hope and vulnerability, disillusion and enchantment, isolation and intimacy that unfold in his works.  Plucking at the heartstrings with 10 coloured photographs arranged in a circuit that light up only for 3 seconds at a time is a commentary on the ephemerality of human relationship while the frosted glass frames in Closer that blurs the images the closer you go is a searing remark about class alienation, exploitation and neglect.

Kartik Sood, Plucking at the Heartstrings, 2004 - 10, tissue paper on hand colored photographs, mounted on glass, painted cloth on wooden frames, electric bulbs with wires and fluctuating circuits

Trained in painting from College of Art, New Delhi and later from Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, Baroda, Kartik Sood incorporates elements of drawing, painting and sculpture to create archival prints, videos and installations involving television sets. It is difficult to pigeonhole him as a painter or a photographer for his work oscillates between photography/painting and cinematography. His work explores the tension between movement and stillness, noise and silence through medium experimentation.

Kartik Sood, Breaking of a Dream, 2013, mixed media, variable

Sood’s work mirrors desolate, fragmented worlds and narrates invisible tales of memory, loss and death. The artist uses found objects to communicate his idea which helps him explore and expand on the poetic potential of objects. He often uses found photographs and discarded objects that carry with them the aesthetics of loss and death. In Closer, seven found photographs of street children in custom blurred glass investigates questions of identity and intimacy while in Silence of Impermanence, he uses objects like jute net and a piece of furniture as a site specific installation along with TV sets playing his video work.

Kartik Sood, Closer, 2009-2010, Images wrapped up in used cloth structures. Customised blurred glass, 7 frames – 3 in wood, 4 in acrylic, 6.5 x 7.5” each, exhibited at ‘Urban Testimonies’ at Latitude 28

Sood’s works exploit the potential of technology that is trendy and familiar mapping cultural metamorphosis through the medium of photography. New meaning is attributed and fragments of narratives are conveyed through acts of appropriation. While he engages with new media and installations involving TV monitors placed on black stands and/or black backdrops, he also uses multiple layers of semi-transparent cloth layered upon paintings or pictures which are hand painted. The meaning of his work is not found in its immediate experience but has to be culled from life.

Kartik Sood, Bridge, Mountain, Lake, 2013, handcoloured (gouche) archival digital print. Ed 2+1 AP, 27.5 x 40” each