Saturday, January 03, 2009

Larger than Life

PTI, "Manjit Bawa: 'Ice cream' painter no more" - Press Trust of India - New Delhi, India

Monday, Secember 29, 2008

Eminent painter Manjit Bawa who had made a mark for himself with his larger than life unique paintings in vibrant 'ice cream' colours filled with mythology and Sufi spirituality leaves behind a body of work which finds relevance in today's terror-filled world.

The 67-year-old painter who was in coma for the last three years after suffering a stroke died in the capital today.

"Manjit Bawa has left behind a legacy that addresses the mythology with a sense of contemporaneity elevating it to to our present context of the contemporary ethos," National Gallery of Modern Art director Rajeev Lochan told PTI."

It is unfortunate that a painter of this calibre was forced to remain silent for some years because nature forced him to be alive but not yet active," he said.

Born in a small town of Dhuri in Punjab, Manjit went on to study fine arts in the capital's School of Art under eminent professors including Somnath Hore, Rakesh Mehra, Dhanaraj Bhagat and B C Sanyal.

Manjit gained identity under Abani Sen, whom the late painter had claimed taught him "to revere the figurative at a time when the entire art scene was leaning in favor of the abstract."

Vadhera, who owns the Vadhera Art Gallery in the capital and who had attended the painter's cremation said, "The most recet memory that I have of Manjit's work was in New York where Christie's auctioned his work for USD 360,000."

"He was a major artist post Independence and his works were a beauty with its minimalistic forms that were easy to pick out from even a distance. His creations were so original and so Indian but so contemporary and stood apart. It was something like Husain's work, quite distinctive."

[Picture: Untitled, Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48 " (cm 96 x 122), 2003; Photo from The Palette Art Gallery http://www.paletteartgallery.com/ ]

[Read Manjit Bawa's bio and see more works at http://www.paletteartgallery.com/artistbiography.asp?artistid=66].

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Saturday, January 03, 2009

Larger than Life
PTI, "Manjit Bawa: 'Ice cream' painter no more" - Press Trust of India - New Delhi, India

Monday, Secember 29, 2008

Eminent painter Manjit Bawa who had made a mark for himself with his larger than life unique paintings in vibrant 'ice cream' colours filled with mythology and Sufi spirituality leaves behind a body of work which finds relevance in today's terror-filled world.

The 67-year-old painter who was in coma for the last three years after suffering a stroke died in the capital today.

"Manjit Bawa has left behind a legacy that addresses the mythology with a sense of contemporaneity elevating it to to our present context of the contemporary ethos," National Gallery of Modern Art director Rajeev Lochan told PTI."

It is unfortunate that a painter of this calibre was forced to remain silent for some years because nature forced him to be alive but not yet active," he said.

Born in a small town of Dhuri in Punjab, Manjit went on to study fine arts in the capital's School of Art under eminent professors including Somnath Hore, Rakesh Mehra, Dhanaraj Bhagat and B C Sanyal.

Manjit gained identity under Abani Sen, whom the late painter had claimed taught him "to revere the figurative at a time when the entire art scene was leaning in favor of the abstract."

Vadhera, who owns the Vadhera Art Gallery in the capital and who had attended the painter's cremation said, "The most recet memory that I have of Manjit's work was in New York where Christie's auctioned his work for USD 360,000."

"He was a major artist post Independence and his works were a beauty with its minimalistic forms that were easy to pick out from even a distance. His creations were so original and so Indian but so contemporary and stood apart. It was something like Husain's work, quite distinctive."

[Picture: Untitled, Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48 " (cm 96 x 122), 2003; Photo from The Palette Art Gallery http://www.paletteartgallery.com/ ]

[Read Manjit Bawa's bio and see more works at http://www.paletteartgallery.com/artistbiography.asp?artistid=66].

No comments: