A stark black and white painting of the Kathiawadi couple on a flame red background positioned on one end of the gallery on a raised platform lords over all the other canvases on show at R.B. Bhaskaran’s exihibition at Artworld. Bhaskaran is no stranger to the Art audience, and he certainly doesn’t have to sign his name for his work to be recognised. Connoisseurs recognise the Bhaskaran stamp from yards away.
This current exhibition too has all his characteristic highlights, with many of his recurrent themes like the cat series, couple series, still life series and others, which form a distinctive part of his identity and signature style are on display and yet what is different here is the way that he has chosen to treat his works. The vibrant brush strokes, bold lines, textural patterns and the muted colour palette which form a vocabulary of his technique, suddenly have gained a luminosity with some vibrant primary colours making their strong presence.
In the painting of a still life, the composition of the triangular vase, the straight rectangular table painted in stark white, the skeletal image of a fish, which suddenly springs to life in spite of stark lines and textures because of the vibrancy of yellow, red and green beautifully balanced. I also sense the difference in the way he handles portraits now, studio-like treatment of earlier works get a striking red backdrop for an imposing Kathiawadi couple that I spoke earlier about.
In the documentary that features his art-life, Bhaskaran admits that he made a conscious effort to make his works speak to the audience. He adds that he sees no need to do that now, suggesting that he feels happier communicating to his canvas, having a singular dialogue just between them.
Bhaskaran is sharing the gallery space with his son R.B Murari, a self-taught artist who expresses his thoughts and ideas through his colourful abstract paintings. While I could see the marked influence of a few artists whom he felt inspired by, I was surprised to see the absence of the Bhaskaran influence. That to me is interesting because an artist of RBB’s stature can easily overwhelm a younger artist, and more easily so, if it is one’s own son! Here, the son charters his own path with his colourful abstracts.
The exhibition is on till August 25, at Art World, 1/12, Ganeshpuram, 3rd Street (off Cenotaph Road).
