Lot 1506: ASHIM PURKAYASTHA

ASHIM PURKAYASTHA
(B. 1967)
FAKE - Error
signed and dated (on the reverse)
acrylic on canvas
228.6 x 167.6 cm. (90 x 66 in.)
Painted in 2006

New Delhi, India, Anant Art Gallery, Ashim Purkayastha: Borderline, October, 2006.

Anant Art Gallery, , Ashim Purkayastha: Borderline, exh. ca., New Delhi, India, 2006 (illustrated, pp. 10, 13 & 43).

Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
Christie's Hong Kong, 26 November, 2006 Lot
395
Acquired from the above by the present owner

My ideas find their roots in my home region (Assam), in the people around me and the socio-political situation of the land. The independence of India came along with the historical partition of the subcontinent. The borders of the countries - Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India - were drawn on the basis of language, religion and caste and led to the birth of millions of identity-less people.

Ashim Purkayastha (Artist Statement, Fabrice Bousteau, Made in Indians, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, 2007, p. 182)

A political artist, Purkayastha's vocabulary is firmly rooted in everyday India. In this painting the revenue stamp is made to represent a guarantee between the citizen and the state. It investigates society, probes national identity, and speaks with authority. Using a portrait of Gandhi, Father of the Nation, on a grand scale the artist critiques the founding principles of the subcontinent; and in so doing points to a perceived betrayal of ideals and continuing social inequalities.