Important Notice

In Manjit Bawa's work, frequent pairings of humans and animals, whether inspired by myth or everyday life in rural India, illuminate the artist's personal interest in asymmetrical relationships and interpersonal communication. Interacting with his autistic son, the artist often contemplated the ideal of a universal language, like music, through which all sentient beings could express and share their experiences of the world with each other.... In Manjit Bawa's work, frequent pairings of humans and animals, whether inspired by myth or everyday life in rural India, illuminate the artist's personal interest in asymmetrical relationships and interpersonal communication. Interacting with his autistic son, the artist often contemplated the ideal of a universal language, like music, through which all sentient beings could express and share their experiences of the world with each other. "Often in Bawa's paintings, humans and animals engage in a wordless dialogue that throws its participants back onto an older, nearly forgotten language of instinct and intuition" (Ranjit Hoskote, Manjit Bawa: Modern Miniatures, Recent Paintings, Bose Pacia exhibition catalogue, 2000, not paginated).

Often, Bawa would combine his interest in universal communication with his love for music and his deep knowledge of the teachings of Sufi mystics, incorporating musicians and mythological themes and subjects in his drawings and paintings. In the present lot, a seated female flautist, who recalls the figure of Krishna, enraptures her canine companion with the music she plays. "Manjit's art, complex and multi-layered, beguiles the casual onlooker with its deceptive simplification. Nothing could be further from the truth. Manjit has spent a lifetime honing his skills as a draughtsman, an artist and colourist, but like a Zen master he is also a minimalist and a purist" (Buddhadeb Dasgupta, "Another Angle", Manjit Bawa, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, and Gallery Maya, London, exhibition catalogue, 2005, not paginated).

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