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"A playful relationship exists between form and space. Indeed, what is form in one context becomes space in another and vice versa. Form and space are so interlinked that it is difficult to talk of them separately." - PRABHAKAR BARWE

Prabhakar Barwe's artistic career spanned three decades, during which he explored the nuances of form and space. His distinctive imagery draws from aspects of Surrealism and is based on placing... "A playful relationship exists between form and space. Indeed, what is form in one context becomes space in another and vice versa. Form and space are so interlinked that it is difficult to talk of them separately." - PRABHAKAR BARWE

Prabhakar Barwe's artistic career spanned three decades, during which he explored the nuances of form and space. His distinctive imagery draws from aspects of Surrealism and is based on placing seemingly random objects on an undefined background. Restrained and meditative, these symbols often appear to float in space, removed from their original context and taking on new meanings. While a student at the J J School of Arts in the 1950s, his art was more realistic and gradually transitioned to abstraction. In the 1970s, Barwe's thematic and stylistic concerns altered drastically. "Newly interested in space as a metaphysical concept, he began striving for a purity of form and colour. 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." (Amrita Jhaveri, A Guide to 101 Modern & Contemporary Indian Artists, Mumbai: India Book House Pvt. Ltd., 2005, pp. 14-15)

"If we pay more attention, the surface of the work appears to be shifting, something ambiguous. 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 surface seems to move in mute agitation: a wavering light, some projected shadows, an ant passing by... 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, 22 April 13 June 2015, online) The present lot from 1989, probably one of the last works Barwe completed before his death in 1995, is a testament to the poetic economy of the distinctive style he spent his career refining. He places organic and inorganic forms against an austere background. This careful arrangement "...reflect[s] certain essential features of poetic form; the brevity of elements, the multiple resonance of their meanings, a certain instantness of something grasped lucidly. These paintings do not reflect the world but rather show one way of seeing reality and at once experiencing it. The profound stillness that emanates from this space is a contemplative silence in which the spectator's eye is turned inward." (V Sharma, Prabhakar Barwe, Mumbai: Gallery Chemould, 1987)

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