Important Notice

Prabhakar Barwe's art was a conscious attempt to question the complex dialogue between form and space. "A playful relationship exists between form and space. Indeed, what is form in one context becomes space in another and vice versa. The boundaries of space are the form; and the existence and feeling within form is space. Form and space are so interlinked that it is difficult to talk of them separately. ... Prabhakar Barwe's art was a conscious attempt to question the complex dialogue between form and space. "A playful relationship exists between form and space. Indeed, what is form in one context becomes space in another and vice versa. The boundaries of space are the form; and the existence and feeling within form is space. Form and space are so interlinked that it is difficult to talk of them separately. " (Prabhakar Barwe, The Blank Canvas, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2013, pp. 45)

Barwe's artistic process was inspired by every object he saw around him, transforming it into the subject of his canvas. In his p aintings, symbols often appear to float in space. Seemingly disparate and arbitrary in their arrangement, these symbols and motifs-whether a cloudy sky, a leaf, a clock, a box-when juxtaposed against each other or their background, subvert their mundane, functional role, and form new configurations. Removed from their original context, the pictorial language presented by these scattered forms and boundless spaces takes on new meaning for each individual viewer. "The fluid relationship between an object, an idea, and its translation into an image became a 'meta-level' concern. The works begin to take on a gentle lyricism." (Amrita Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Modern & Contemporary Indian Artists, Mumbai: India Book House Pvt. Ltd., 2005, pp. 14-15)

The present lot was part of a major retrospective show of the artist's works titled Astitva: The Essence of Prabhakar Barwe at the NGMA in New Delhi earlier this year.

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