Important Notice

Satish Gujral has left behind a diverse artistic legacy as not only a painter, but also a sculptor, muralist, architect, and writer. The present lot is among a series of burnt wood sculptures that he first started making in the 1970s, born of frustration and anger at the socio-political upheaval he experienced in India at the time. His daughter Raseel Gujral explains how the artist brought out the intensity of his materials in processing them to... Satish Gujral has left behind a diverse artistic legacy as not only a painter, but also a sculptor, muralist, architect, and writer. The present lot is among a series of burnt wood sculptures that he first started making in the 1970s, born of frustration and anger at the socio-political upheaval he experienced in India at the time. His daughter Raseel Gujral explains how the artist brought out the intensity of his materials in processing them to create works of leashed fury: “They express the sense of pent- up burning fire, incarceration and anger, with the sculptures almost resembling angry deities. He burnt the wood, he burnt the leather, which he had never done before. When you burn leather, it emerges red, like blood. The sculptures were festooned with ropes and keys that symbolised bondage… His art was like a raging god.” (Raseel Gujral quoted in Trisha Mukherjee, “A Flaming Legacy of Burnt Wood”, The New Indian Express, 7 May 2022, online)

He was aided in his experiments by an education which gave him an early foundation in artisanal techniques like clay moulding, wood carving, and carpentry. Art critic Gayatri Sinha notes his proficiency in transfiguring materials into powerful works of art-“Gujral’s approach to sculptural material is generally transformative: through processes of accretion, such as patinas, pigments, accretions or else through the process of abstracting through burning, moulding, gouging, or splintering, Gujral achieves his ends. From the effect in the series of metal-based sculptures followed by the burnt wood series, Gujral arrives at forms that draw a dramatic authority from an iconic anthropomorphicity.” (Gayatri Sinha, “Satish Gujral: A Singular Journey”, Gayatri Sinha, Santo Datta and Gautam Bhatia, Satish Gujral: An Artography, New Delhi: Roli Books in arrangement with The Netherlands: Roli & Janssen BV, 2006, p. 14)

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