STRANGELY, destiny sometimes puts us in situations that are completely at odds with the general mood of the world around us. It’s the New Year, but the first lines of the new year in this humble space, unfortunately, are not going to remind you of vibrant colours or sanguine hopes for the times ahead. Today, death is seen and heard about everywhere and every day. Yet, when we are emotionally attached, we find it so hard to come to terms with this ultimate reality. That is why it’s so very difficult to accept that Manjit Bawa, the inimitable genius, is no more amongst us today.

Being an ardent fan, yours truly is deeply touched by the death, but is surely unable to come up with expressions that can aptly portray the heart-felt sorrow.

The world of Indian art certainly suffered this great loss on Monday. The hand that created the Krishna and the Dancing Cows has stopped forever.

Such is the quality of Bawa’s forms that they leave a lasting impression in the mind of the viewer and any person, coming across his style for the first time, would be able to identify his work on another day fairly easily. His forms, be it Krishna, Radha, cows or birds, are refreshingly simple with a childlike, naïve quality about them. The distorted forms are often informally referred to as ‘boneless’, as their rhythmic contours and dynamic gestures/postures defy our common ideas about anatomy. The lines on his forms are given rhythm and movement to enhance the intensity. Sometimes, there are dislocated limbs as well, which draw our attention even more, probably because they are not very frequent in his works. The detached individual parts seem to have a life of their own, and they are ‘held together’ by the rhythmic, flowing lines of the principal form. All these characteristics make his forms strikingly original and inimitable.

The second most striking aspect of Bawa’s work is the backgrounds, which are always completely flat masses of colours. The solid backgrounds themselves do not carry any great meaning as such, but they play a role in giving the human, animal or tree forms an independent existence. This comes from the relation that the forms and the backgrounds share in his paintings. It is the pairing of the two complementary colours – one enhancing the intensity of the other. Bawa excelled in this juxtaposition.

The playful nature of his stylised forms and combination of colours seem to carry a folk touch, drawn mostly from Indian mythology and it is this indigenous quality of his ‘fantastic’ figurative imagery that makes his works truly Indian in spirit.

Bawa’s exit has created a void in the Indian contemporary art scene. In an era dominated by MF Husains, FN Souzas and Tyeb Mehtas, Manjit Bawa maintained his own identity with his unique style.

d.bezbarua@yahoo.co.in

Debashish Bezbaruah