Untitled

Bhupen Khakhar is remembered as one of the most inventive painters of his time. Determined not to be influenced by others, he turned his observing eye on his own environment. His paintings are marked by their strong narrative quality and employ a bold flat use of colour relying on shape over line to capture their subjects. The artist often draws from reality, recreating his observations of middle-class India which are characterised by their complex spatial arrangements, dark humour and acute attention to detail. In this painting, Khakhar adds his typical colourful playfulness to the work while he manages to capture a humorous moment of crammed passengers sitting in a car.

Exploring this theme more fluidly in his watercolours, the artist allowed his grip on the brush to loosen, replacing his sfumato style with a diaphanous usage of colour and whimsical dream-like compositions. His international acclaim has seen his paintings exhibited across the world, with solo shows at museums and galleries in Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Vancouver, Delhi and Mumbai. He was also the subject of a major retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Renia Sofia, Spain and his group shows, including a 2001 exhibition at the Tate Modern, have placed him alongside western masters like David Hockney, Sir Howard Hodgkin and R.B. Kitaj.