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Artist or Maker: Broota, Rameshwar (b. 1941)

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Exhibited: New Delhi, Triveni Kala Sangam, Rameshwar Broota, December 2001

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Literature: Neville Tuli, The Flamed Mosaic, Indian Contemporary Painting, Ahmedabad, 1997, illustrated p. 148
Rameshwar Broota, Recent Paintings, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2001, illustrated p. 30

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As a young painter Broota's anguish at the suffering he saw all around him and his indignation at the greed and corruption in society was forcefully expressed in his early works through colourful and humourous depictions of anthropomorphised gorillas representing the 'pillars of society': police officers, military generals, and the judiciary in compromising situations. Broota's imagery shifted in 1980s from his earlier ironic 'Gorilla Man' to the 'Primordial Man' symbolising the universal substance of the human being. This particular painting through the culmination of two different imageries best indicates the transition. He uses the image of the Havaldar (police man) allegorically to make satirical and pungent comments on his social environment and systems where the officer in spite of his responsibilities is shirking his duties by dozing off.
It was around this time in the artist's career that he discovered his signature technique. Frustrated by works he deemed unsuccessful, Broota re-used his discarded canvasses by layering flat monochromatic pigment and through a process of negation, carving images by scraping away the paint with the sharp edge of a broken blade.