Manjit Bawa (b. 1941)

Bhaav Bhaaya, Frames of Eternity, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, 1999

Painting is a spiritual journey for Manjit Bawa. To him the creative process, ‘…is akin to losing your way in the depth of a deeply wooded forest and seeking a path leading somewhere. There is no map or guide to point out the right direction… there is you and your instinct.’ Bawa is a master draughtsman also trained in the techniques of serigraphy and his paintings combine delicately drawn fluid lines with brilliant color fields which create space and define form. The result is dreamlike poetic compositions imbued with a sense of solace.  The rich incandescent hues of his works are reminiscent of the jewel-like tones of Indian miniature paintings. Bawa’s subjects are inspired by nature and by the timeless tales of his native Punjab, themes that he revisits repeatedly. in his words, 'the figure of a flautist is captured often in my art eternally frozen in time…Is he Krishna, Ranjha, a mere anonymous cowherd you would see anywhere in our rural land or is it me?’