BIKASH BHATTACHARJEE (1940-2006)

Regarded as one of India’s most talented surrealists, Bikash Bhattacharjee uses a photo-realistic technique to create macabre and often chimerical depictions of life in India, particularly through figures of the subaltern and women. His paintings typically feature implausible characters and sinister settings, constructed through the artist’s meticulous balancing of color, light and shadow. “Most of his pictures give a glimpse of a world that lies beyond the canvas which, on its part, ceases to be a quadrangular piece of linen and becomes a door leading to a world unknown – a world of immeasurable depth, haunted by mute, mysterious myrmidons of secretive, sulking souls.” (A. Banerjee, ‘Exhibitions’, Lalit Kala Contemporary, New Delhi, 1974, p. 35)