The world through Bhupen Khakhar's canvas

It was the late-1960s and Indian artists were veering towards the Western ideas of abstract expressionism and high Modernism. In such a scenario, Bhupen Khakhar started his journey towards becoming India’s first pop artist and during the 1970s, had “established himself as a connoisseur of kitsch,” wrote poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote in his catalogue essay, A Crazy Pair of Eyes: Remembering Bhupen Khakhar,  for the 2013-exhibition on the artist at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke.

However, in the late 1970s and 1980s, Khakhar’s paintings became deeply autobiographical, as he became, perhaps, the first Indian artist to come out of the closet and freely express his sexuality. Works such as Two Men in Banaras (1982) and Yayati (1987) were, Khakhar said in an interview to Outlook, “kind of personal confessional paintings.” It is to celebrate his stature as a key global figure in 20th-century painting that Tate Modern is presenting the first ever international retrospective of Khakhar since his death in 2003.

Hathyogi, 1978. Courtesy of the Estate of BhupenKhakhar/National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi © Estate of Bhupen Khakhar.The show derives its title from Khakhar’s seminal work You Can’t Please All (1981), which shows a life-sized naked figure on a balcony, watching characters from an ancient Aesop fable. The exhibition also heralds the opening of Tate Modern’s new extension, which has been in the works since mid-2000s. “The exhibition features 70-plus works, and also significant archival material,” says assistant curator Nada Raza, who worked on the exhibition alongside Chris Dercon, director, Tate Modern.

One can see Khakhar’s major works — watercolours, oils on canvas and even experimental ceramics — created over five decades and drawn from major collections from across the world. “Khakhar, since his death, hasn’t had a serious re-appraisal. He has been acknowledged by everyone as important, but his work has not been seen so much,” she adds. Khakhar’s association with the gallery is not recent: his work was shown at the Tate Gallery in 1982 as part of “Six Indian Painters” and then again in “Century City” in 2001. “And now in 2016, he is part of the opening exhibition at the new wing, for which we wanted to go back to an artist that we have always considered important,” says Raza.

Three significant works — Night, Republic Day and American Survey Officer — have been loaned by Delhi-based Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, or KNMA, which is also one of the supporters of the exhibition, after Deutsche Bank. “The retrospective is significant as Indian artists are now being given the pride of the place in the West as well — first the Nasreen Mohamedi show at the MET and now this at the Tate,” says Kiran Nadar, art collector and chairperson, KNMA. She feels that though Khakhar was an untaught artist, his oeuvre was huge and varied. “Be it watercolours or canvases — each work emphasised his personality vocally,” she says.  

The exhibition is full of newer insights into the artist’s life and works, gleaned during Raza’s extensive travels around the Gujarati neighbourhood of Khetwadi in Mumbai, were Khakhar grew up, and then Baroda, where he worked as a chartered accountant and also studied art criticism at MS University. Her travels brought her in touch with friends of Khakhar’s such as Gulammohammed Sheikh, Vivan Sundaram, Nilima Sheikh, Sunil Kothari, and more, who aided her in understanding what produced the practice. “Baroda provided an international perspective on art and art history, aided by our mutual friend Gulammohammed Sheikh. You can find references of colonial and early renaissance art.

Death in the Family, 1977. Oil paint on canvas. Victoria and Albert Museum © The Estate of BhupenKhakhar.Later, his work became more subjective and homo erotic,” says Sundaram. Raza also went to Ahmedabad to meet his close friend Ambalal. “I was struck by the wide range of people that he was able to connect with,” she says. It was fascinating to note that he could recall a tailor in a shop or a barber with as much fondness as his friends within the art world. The exhibition catalogue also chronicles Khakhar’s literary side — that of a writer and playwright. In fact, he worked with Salman Rushdie on a special edition of two short stories, for which he produced a series of wood cuts. “He wrote plays and even directed one. When he couldn’t sleep, his favourite thing to do was to read detective stories,” recalls Sundaram.

Another artist who knew him well and has depicted and quoted Khakhar in some of his works is Atul Dodiya. One of Khakhar’s paintings that left an early impression on him is Ranchhodbhai Relaxing in Bed, which shows a man in bed with a quilt on his lap and in the backdrop has a boy combing his hair in front of the mirror. “I knew so many Ranchhodbhais while growing up in Ghatkopar and this one was exactly like some of them,” laughs Dodiya. Khakhar’s wit shines through not just in the names of his paintings, but also in the imagery. In his opinion, while Khakhar’s technique was like that of a Sunday painter, it was his choice of subjects that made the works fascinating. “They were so rooted in Indian soil and landscape. Unlike others, he was depicting middle and lower-middle class India,” says Dodiya, while adding that Khakhar was someone who stood against the norm.

You Can’t Please All, 1981. Oil paint on canvas. 1756 x 1756 mm. Tate © BhupenKhakharHe would go against the quality of image or colour considered “tasteful” by the art world. “He would use garish colours like violets and magentas, and add an element of kitsch, which is not synonymous with high quality aesthetic. Khakhar would love to offend the sensibility of the viewer. It was as if this was his motto,” says Dodiya. “His works were extremely personal, autobiographical and had a sense of urban primitivism. These were the kind of qualities that made him different from figurative painters of that genre.”

“Bhupen Khakhar: You Can’t Please All” will be held at Tate Modern, London, between June 1 and November 6, and will travel to Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin

Let's block ads! (Why?)

The world through Bhupen Khakhar's canvas