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Lot 19

 

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Arpita Singh's deep and complex oeuvre, spanning more than four decades, is informed by and addresses the multiple histories she has witnessed and narratives she has helped develop, ranging from the personal to the national.

"Memories and mappings of dislocations and discoveries, of nostalgia and pain, of excitement and anxiety have surged through her images. But Arpita Singh also responds to other dynamics in the world, to the... Arpita Singh's deep and complex oeuvre, spanning more than four decades, is informed by and addresses the multiple histories she has witnessed and narratives she has helped develop, ranging from the personal to the national.

"Memories and mappings of dislocations and discoveries, of nostalgia and pain, of excitement and anxiety have surged through her images. But Arpita Singh also responds to other dynamics in the world, to the interface of between time and space, between history and present context. In fact, she absorbs the complexities of the world and represents them in her own distinct way through the sensuous use of paint and brush, signaling joy, wonder, menace and melancholy in an intricate kaleidoscope of human emotions" (Ella Datta, "Of history, context and location", Picture Postcard, Vadehra Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2006, p. 1).

In the present lot, an everyday event has been magnified into a theatrical production, complete with a set, props, and an audience. The main characters, an elderly couple sipping their afternoon tea at center stage, are surrounded by a miscellany of images and people from their pasts; memories that are becoming more and more difficult to hold on to and must now be ceremoniously bid farewell to. Behind them, an almost funerary gathering of the couple"s aged companions commiserates with them, mourning the passage of youth, time and memory, while in front of the tea table, a young soldier, perhaps one of the fading ghosts from times past, stiffly salutes the couple with his back to the viewer. Palm trees, flowers, various faces and a small car complete the motley assembly, a touching tribute to old love and longing.

Bringing her experience as a textile designer and consultant to her creative process, this canvas, like Singh"s other works is bright and cheerful, despite its serious themes of mortality and loss. The vivid colours, heavy patterning and ornamentation of her works is reminiscent of traditional Kantha embroidery, a style Singh became familiar with during her early work at the Weavers" Service Centers in Kolkata and New Delhi.

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