Important Notice

“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

Prabhakar Barwe made a conscious attempt to question the complex dialogue between form and space over the... “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

Prabhakar Barwe made a conscious attempt to question the complex dialogue between form and space over the course of his three-decade-long artistic career.

Though Barwe’s art was more realistic during and immediately after his time as a student at the Sir J J School of Arts in the 1950s, he gradually began to transition into abstraction. In fact, Barwe’s move to Benares in 1961 began a period of great experimentation and learning for the artist. There, “he was influenced by Tantric philosophy, incorporating its imagery into his art: the twin triangles, the elliptical form suggesting an open seed, and small spherical entities - standard symbols of Tantra - were brought together in simple but inventive ways.” Additionally, he explored “elements of Pop Art and Indian folk art in this period...Eclectic motifs and symbols are suspended in space, and the viewer is expected to make the relevant connections between them.” (Amrita Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Modern and Contemporary Indian Artists, Mumbai: India Book House, 2005, p. 14)

It was also during this period in Benares that Barwe began using enamel paints “to overcome the obligation and non-availability of oil colours despite knowing the shortcomings of the medium. With a gradual progression in the technique, the artist explains his need for certain sheen where he successfully blends the commercial paint to achieve the result of oils and beyond through a layered method.” (Jerry Pinto ed., “Biographical Essay,” The Blank Canvas: Prabhakar Barwe, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts, 2013)

From the 1970s onwards, Barwe’s artistic process was inspired by Surrealism and was based on placing seemingly random objects against an undefined background - often making them appear as though they were floating in space or on flat expanses of colour, as seen in the present lot. Each exists on its own - connected to the others, yet undisruptive in nature. He describes the visual experience of these works as being akin to “a thought-free space of the mind, or like an undivided, unruffled mental state.” (Artist quoted in Prabhakar Barwe, Mumbai: Gallery Chemould, 1992)

Restrained and meditative, these symbols and motifs - whether a cloudy sky, leaf, clock, or 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.” (Jhaveri, pp. 14-15)

As a result, one notices a watercolour-like delicacy gradually emerging in his works - a result of diluting enamel paint with turpentine and kerosene. This is evident in Inside the Green with its nearly invisible brushwork and the strong colour palette. A closer look at the present lot, and others from this period, show how “the surface of the work appears to be shifting...Its appearance suggests an empty space, but it gains depth, almost casually as it were, as if it were leaving room for a “cloudy sky” ...The boxes appear truly empty. Open though they are, they retain impregnability. The trunks, burning with colour, lock their secrets within and withhold both storms and rainbows. So many objects that have weathered the elements, objects that roll through the climates of the canvas. Or rather, in a different formulation: these many objects which express an inner climate, and a stifling one. An inmost monsoon, but one withheld.” (Gyan Panchal, the doorstep, Mumbai: Jhaveri Contemporary, 2015, online)

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