Untitled (Krishna)

Inspired by his experience as a silk screen printer which saw him utilise simplified, uncluttered modes of expression, Manjit Bawa's signature style suspends his forms against richly hued backgrounds, in an effortless beauty borne from pristine, elegant simplicity. Bawa's paintings demonstrate a preference for economy of line and form over narrative, where extraneous detail is eliminated in favour of bold contour and monochromatic brilliant backdrops of pure horizonless space. The influence of classical Indian artistic tradition is evident both in Bawa's poise and palette. Whilst the artist's mastery of lyrical line borrows from Kalighat paintings, the saturated gem-toned fields of pure colour takes inspiration from Indian miniature painting.

With an almost sardonic simplicity, Bawa conjures a window into another world, revealing a realm of imagination, myth, mysticism and magic. Figures appear in suspended animation eternally trapped in this ethereal reality. The motif of the violet musical virtuoso suggests the god Krishna, traditionally depicted playing his melodious flute as his cows graze nearby. With only his torso visible, enshrouded in demure drapery that matches the background, his eyes glance upward unerringly to the heavens. The flautist's fingers frozen in motion suggest a dynamism that seems paradoxically balanced with a motionless sense of serenity. Bawa's painting creates a seductive reality where gods, men and beasts live in perennial peace in this enchanted empire. Hovering above his sacred bovine companion, the two fractured figures are unified through shimmering shades of pink found atop the beast's brow, as if reflecting in the light of his divine master.