Rameshwar Broota. X-ray of a Meeting. Oil on canvas. 70" x 90". 1974.

Rameshwar Broota. Man 1. Oil on canvas. 70" x 50". 1980.

Between Corporeal
Corruption and Resilience

Gopika Nath finds Rameshwar Broota's man caught between internal conflict and external assault.

     "HE WHO PAINTS A FIGURE, IF HE CANNOT BE IT, CANNOT DRAW IT." - DANTE

     When a man in a painting looks deep into himself, delving into the many details that mark his presence, he may appear grim and stifled, almost as if he is trapped in an oppressive space. Such an image is open to many readings - in today's terror-stricken world, such a work might seem to explore the vulnerability and fragility of a human being exposed to attack and assault.

     Rameshwar Broota creates images of such men by removing layers of paint. The technique is as exacting as is his piercing observation of life, of himself, and of the world around him. His works however take on a non-subjective, universal dimension. The deep sense of honesty in Broota's explorations do not let him eliminate a single shadow or line. Broota often speaks of confrontation - of man confronted by his environment and the kind of metamorphosis that the mind undergoes in the process of being confronted by harsh urban spaces; he speaks of the gall of the unethical, insecure, power-lusting politicians or of the unfairness of unsung heroes being posthumously recognized and conveniently framed as benign remembrances.

     Broota does not 'speak' aggressively or overtly in his works - they embody satire definitely but they also frame his patient observation of all that invades and erodes his sense of well-being. In fact, his painstaking nicking off of the paint with the edge of a razor blade seems to present a means to contain terror - it is an act that seems to respond to the dark and grotesque nature of man's greed and insecurity.

     Born in 1941, Broota graduated from the Delhi College of Art and joined the Triveni Kala Sangam as the HOD of the Art Department in 1967. From the Man series in 1987 to the Faces series in 1990 and the Scripted in Time series in 1997 to his latest work, he has observed and recorded the changing condition of his own body as the bones, flesh, and muscles move, cower, inflate, age, assert, and extend from being mere parts to becoming metaphors for the spirit and power of man. They do not necessarily interpret male potency but interpret sensuality and power from the standpoint of a man - a position Broota has studied, evaluated, observed, and commented upon. As he maintains, he really cannot speak as a woman; he uses what he knows and understands best to portray the spirit of humankind.