Osian's Auction Catalogue Masterpieces and Museum-Quality III | March 2004

91 MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY III “ The untitled painting in oil canvas, done in 1965, is, on stylistic consideration, an unusual painting, as it cannot be grouped with other works, early or late. But on thematic grounds, the painting in discussion can be catagorised as belonging to a large body of work in which Bikash was concerned with the macabre reality, beyond the veil of appearance. The shaky contours of figures in the painting are resultant effects of the felt terror of the unseen, perhaps also unknown. The painting is important for its otherness.” (Pranab Ranjan Ray, rpt. in Manifestations EXC. Delhi Art Gallery 2003; p.14.) “ A very different starting point is seen in the highly caricatural, almost cartoonish human images. On a closer look, this attitude too, reveals a related pitch of anger, just expressed with the help of a cool fury and a frankness which turns brutal… An awareness of the actual did not permit the artist to turn synthetised urban scenes fully abstract or subject them to design…The sources of this surreal language arose from western art of diverse fields and ages as well as the Indian ethos. The two remain almost separate in some paintings but gradually blend in the increasingly individual imagination of Bhattacharjee… virtuosity is not used for self-intoxication but to reach a possibly complete meaning, inclusive of what is hidden and strange. It comes to the viewer oscillating between delicate evocation and stark metaphor with many intermediary stages, all permeated with poetry.” (Martha Jakimowicz-Karle, rpt. in Bikash Bhattacharjee. Bangalore: Kala Yatra 1991; pp.5-6.)