Trash: Vivan Sundaram

"This monograph presents a perspective on the art of Bhupen Khakhar (b. 1934), one of the most significant Indian artists of this century. Born into a lower middle-class Gujarati, family in central Bombay Khakhar came to art only in his thirties. Trained as a chartered accountant, his early work dealt with popular iconic imagery and with the condition of "the insignificant man", trapped in an unremarkable existence." "Khakhar was subsequently involved, with several of his Baroda contemporaries, in the devising of a synthetic visual language that sought to reach a contemporary expression without forsaking links with tradition." "Khakhar's work from the beginning of the 80s onwards has been marked by a concern with homosexuality, making him possibly the most provocative painter in the contemporary Indian context." "Written by Khakhar's friend, the English painter Timothy Hyman, the book sets out to recreate the context in which Khakhar spent his early years, and that in which he reached maturity as a painter. The integration of the painter's work and the material and psychological circumstances of his life emerges as a leitmotif in the book, which brings the discussion on his work into the mid-90s."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)