Important Notice

Initially influenced by folk art and tantric symbolism, Prabhakar Barwe moved on to an exploration of form and space in the 1970s. At about the same time, Barwe began to experiment with “…glossy enamel paint diluted in turpentine and developed his own style using simple images from nature…In Barwe’s paintings the mutual relationships of the concrete and the abstract lead us to the realization of space in numerous ways. Through a subtle play of... Initially influenced by folk art and tantric symbolism, Prabhakar Barwe moved on to an exploration of form and space in the 1970s. At about the same time, Barwe began to experiment with “…glossy enamel paint diluted in turpentine and developed his own style using simple images from nature…In Barwe’s paintings the mutual relationships of the concrete and the abstract lead us to the realization of space in numerous ways. Through a subtle play of identification and abstraction Barwe probes deep into the vast expanse of the inner mind, and into the memories of the past. In Barwe’s work, elements like a chair, a building, or a leaf, are transformed into abstract shapes liberated from their narrow meanings in the material world, giving us experience of purity and spontaneity. Barwe’s paintings are at once representative, real, and abstract in their essence” (Deepak Ghare, Expanding Horizons, Bodhi Art exhibition catalogue, Mumbai, 2008, p. 97).

In the present lot, painted in 1991, the artist filters down a familiar scene to those of its elements that are most representative of it for him. The objects he has chosen to portray here, against a stark and flat grey background, all relate to his personal experience of the terrace of his building. In addition to the collapsible metal grilles on each side that frame the other images, there are two tall buildings in the distance, a toppled paint can, a puddle, and the face of a woman. While some of these, like the grilles and buildings, are common to almost every old Bombay terrace, others like the woman’s head are more individual, perhaps representing a personal narrative that the artist associates with the scene. This canvas is testament to the artist’s unique style and the economy with which he expresses the unique idiom that he spent his career developing.

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