Important Notice

“I want to go to spaces that are unseen, unknown, the so–called unconscious. But, the conscious and the unconscious exist side by side for me. When something happens or unfurls on the surface, it may seem accidental, but in reality, it has been cooking just beneath for a long time. As in Nature, nothing is an accident for me.” - RAMESHWAR BROOTA

At the core of Rameshwar Broota's art is an overarching focus on man - whose body and... “I want to go to spaces that are unseen, unknown, the so–called unconscious. But, the conscious and the unconscious exist side by side for me. When something happens or unfurls on the surface, it may seem accidental, but in reality, it has been cooking just beneath for a long time. As in Nature, nothing is an accident for me.” - RAMESHWAR BROOTA

At the core of Rameshwar Broota's art is an overarching focus on man - whose body and its relationship with its surroundings become the site for conflict and resolution. "Through repeated acts of resistance, the male body, with its skeletal frame or stolid musculature, plays out its postures of acceptance or confrontation." (Gayatri Sinha, "Edge of the Precipice: The Art of Rameshwar Broota," Rameshwar Broota, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2001, p. 24) His works are existential explorations; extraneous detail is exercised, focussing the viewer's eyes on the deeply modelled man- machine. "The realization that every part of the human body is expressive and can speak has made Broota move from the monumental to the minimal, from panorama to fragment... each small part of the body demands the same kind of attention and treatment." (Roobina Karoda, Counterparts: Recent Paintings by Rameshwar Broota, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2009, p. 6)

Broota's paintings bear the physical scars of his innovative and labour-intensive creative process, which involved developing "a method in which he applied many thin coats of paint beginning with silver and including raw sienna, burnt umber, shades of bluish black as well as pure black, and incorporating linseed oil to preserve the suppleness of the surface for the scraping phase." (Susan Bean, "Midnight's Children: The Second Generation," Midnight to the Boom: Painting in India after Independence, New York: Peabody Essex Museum, 2013, p. 138) Once the layers are ready, the artist uses a razor to scrape and work the surface with varying amounts of pressure to create fine textures and exquisitely etched details. Through this process, Broota blurs the definitions of painting and becomes part sculptor, part archaeologist, exhuming his forms from the medium itself. "The chromatic nuances resulting from the scratching, in spite of their austerity, can be mesmerizing. Broota's magical handling of myriad textures creates a brilliant impact... The minute detail is a fascinating visual experience." (Ella Datta, Rameshwar Broota, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2004-2005, online)

Following his seminal 'Ape' and 'Man' series of works from the 1970s and '80s, Broota turned away from exclusive figuration to work on a series of large semi-abstract canvases with highly textured surfaces that alternately concealed and revealed various proto-human figures and architectural forms. Although the figure may have receded in these works, the artist emphasises the fact that they are not abstract, especially in their conception. Titled 'Traces of Man', these works feature Broota's 'man' through his absence or anonymity, and in the unavoidable presence of the relics of his fabrications. "Broota imagined a scenario where man had disappeared but his relics, the remains of his civilisation colonised his imagination." (Datta, online)

This is evident in the present lot which forms an integral part of this series. The outward absence of the 'man' here is balanced by his presence within the very deposits that have been left behind. Moreover, Broota's idea of 'man' does not focus on the individual. It instead focusses on the shared experiences that demarcate us as higher beings without the trappings of civilisation. Ultimately, Broota is a singular artist, one who does not conform to trends or traditions. The present lot epitomises his pursuit of truth on the canvas. Broota's style of manipulating scale and focus on his canvases ensures that it is the ordinary that is monumentalised while encouraging the observer to question the familiarity of his images. Through these images, Broota explores the shadowy anonymity that society imposes on the contemporary individual, and the insidious violence of this phenomenon.

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