Bikash Bhattacharjee (1940-2006)

Mixed media on canvas. Thickly textured paint on wall in background. Colors slightly lighter and brighter than catalogue illustration.
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Bikash Bhattacharjee is generally recognised as one of  India's leading painters in the Western Surrealist tradition. Bikash lost his father as a child and the consequent struggle for survival without his support is often reflected in his work. Childhood symbols such as dolls and balloons that frequently appear in his works become metaphors for his loss and  the suffering that he witnessed around him.  Through his paintings, he depicts the life of average middle-class Bengalis; their aspirations, superstitions, hypocrisy and corruption, and even the violence that is endemic to Calcutta.

The present work depicting a group of young boys seated on a bare schoolroom floor was painted on commission for its first owner. Though executed in a recognizable photo-realistic style the canvas bears Bikash's trademark somber tone. The sense of starkness is highlighted by the plain mud-brick walls and the boys' threadbare book bags lying on the floor. Light filters into the room through the cracks of a dilapitated door in the background. As with his other paintings, Bikash uses light and shade to great effect in imparting his own dimension to the scene and creating a social commentary through his work.