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Lot 69

 

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In his Systematic Citizen series of large-format paintings, Riyas Komu confronts the viewer with portraits of people who are often encountered but rarely noticed. Representing lower-middle-class working protagonists, Komu renders them with almost confrontational gazes, establishing them as equal legatees of the world they share with the viewer. These monumental portraits in tight close-up are “…a way of making palpable what would otherwise have... In his Systematic Citizen series of large-format paintings, Riyas Komu confronts the viewer with portraits of people who are often encountered but rarely noticed. Representing lower-middle-class working protagonists, Komu renders them with almost confrontational gazes, establishing them as equal legatees of the world they share with the viewer. These monumental portraits in tight close-up are “…a way of making palpable what would otherwise have escaped attention, given that zapping is the basis of today’s media-driven spectatorial regime” (Deepak Ananth, “Keeping Vigil”, India Contemporary, GEM Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition catalogue, 2009, p. 73). In the present lot, Komu does not weave a specific narrative, but uses the image to challenge the viewer to imagine one. What is the life-story hidden beneath the subject’s silent, powerful eyes? By way of this portrait, then, Komu dares us to think, to explore and confront our own deepest fears of the unknown.

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