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Lot Essay
Manjit Bawa's instantly recognizable paintings present elegantly distilled stylized forms floating within exquisite, intensely hued backgrounds. Bawa’s formal training as a silk screen printer is evident in the bold contouring and brilliant backdrops which give his paintings a powerful gestalt associated more commonly with graphic design. The influence of classical Indian artistic tradition is also evident. The mastery of lyrical contours borrows from Kalighat paintings, while the saturated gem-toned fields of pure color take inspiration from Indian miniature painting.
Suspended within a crimson background, the kneeling flautist in drapery playing to a bovine audience by a single tree suggests the god Krishna in an homage to the long tradition in classical Indian painting depicting the youthful deity. The present painting consciously avoids the trappings of direct narrative, excluding the usual fastidiously decorated pastoral landscape and adoring gopis from this scene. Bawa condenses his forms to focus on specific images and interactions, leaving the rest to suggestion and the viewer’s imagination.
Untitled (Krishna with Cow) conjures a window into a celestial world of myth, mysticism and magic. Bawa's enchanting painting reveals an serene realm populated by the gods, their consorts and the sacred beasts that accompany them. Here, the artist unites the two protagonists through color; the cow’s shimmering skin and Krishna’s clothing are rendered in the same off-white tones, while the violet of Krishna’s flesh and the yellow of his drapery and flute are reflected in the brow and belly of the cow, as if it is basking in his divine glow. Bawa’s luminescent monochromatic background, so unique to his oeuvre, resonates with potency binding the composition to the subjects within it.
Suspended within a crimson background, the kneeling flautist in drapery playing to a bovine audience by a single tree suggests the god Krishna in an homage to the long tradition in classical Indian painting depicting the youthful deity. The present painting consciously avoids the trappings of direct narrative, excluding the usual fastidiously decorated pastoral landscape and adoring gopis from this scene. Bawa condenses his forms to focus on specific images and interactions, leaving the rest to suggestion and the viewer’s imagination.
Untitled (Krishna with Cow) conjures a window into a celestial world of myth, mysticism and magic. Bawa's enchanting painting reveals an serene realm populated by the gods, their consorts and the sacred beasts that accompany them. Here, the artist unites the two protagonists through color; the cow’s shimmering skin and Krishna’s clothing are rendered in the same off-white tones, while the violet of Krishna’s flesh and the yellow of his drapery and flute are reflected in the brow and belly of the cow, as if it is basking in his divine glow. Bawa’s luminescent monochromatic background, so unique to his oeuvre, resonates with potency binding the composition to the subjects within it.