.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Inspired by his experience as a silk screen printer which saw him utilize 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 favor of bold contour and monochromatic brilliant backdrops of pure horizonless space. The influence of classical Indian artistic traditions is evident both in Bawa’s poise and pallette. Whilst the artist’s mastery of lyrical line borrows from Kalighat paintings, the saturated gem-toned hues of pure color take inspiration from Indian miniature painting.
What is so outstanding about the practice of Manjit Bawa is, "[...] not the stroke-by-stroke structuring of the image but its instant unveiling in animated suspension. As the image is revealed, the backdrop itself becomes the enactment." (J. Swaminathan, 'Dogs Too Keep Night Watch', Let's Paint the Sky Red: Manjit Bawa, New Delhi, 2011, p. 37)
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 space. Here, the motif of the violet musical virtuoso suggests the god Krishna, traditionally depicted playing his melodious flute as cows graze nearby. With only his torso visible, enshrouded in drapery that matches the background, his eyes glance upward to the heavens. The flautist’s fingers 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 enchanted empires. Although Krishna is pictured hovering above his bovine companion, the two fractured figures are unified through the shimmering shades of pink found atop the beast’s brow, as if reflecting the light of his divine master.
What is so outstanding about the practice of Manjit Bawa is, "[...] not the stroke-by-stroke structuring of the image but its instant unveiling in animated suspension. As the image is revealed, the backdrop itself becomes the enactment." (J. Swaminathan, 'Dogs Too Keep Night Watch', Let's Paint the Sky Red: Manjit Bawa, New Delhi, 2011, p. 37)
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 space. Here, the motif of the violet musical virtuoso suggests the god Krishna, traditionally depicted playing his melodious flute as cows graze nearby. With only his torso visible, enshrouded in drapery that matches the background, his eyes glance upward to the heavens. The flautist’s fingers 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 enchanted empires. Although Krishna is pictured hovering above his bovine companion, the two fractured figures are unified through the shimmering shades of pink found atop the beast’s brow, as if reflecting the light of his divine master.