Lot 64: ARPITA SINGH (B.1937)

ARPITA SINGH (B.1937) MUNNA APA'S GARDEN Signed and dated 'ARPITA SINGH 89' upper center and inscribed 'ARPITA SINGH/ MUNNA APA'S GARDEN/ 1989 OIL' on reverse Oil on canvas 62 1/4 by 68 1/4 in. (158.1 by 173.4 cm.)

Sotheby's New York, October 10, 1997, lot 24

Arpita Singh's careful combination of whimsical compositions, her bold use of color and her confident control of her medium reveals her extraordinary talent as a painter. Her bright palette is perhaps the most characteristic feature of her recent work. Gayatri Sinha notes: "Arpita Singh has pushed the visual lexicon of the middle-aged woman further than almost any other woman artist. The anomaly between the aging body and the residue of desire, between the extraordinary and the divine and the threat of violent fluxes of the impinging external world, gives her work its piquancy and edge. At the same time, she critiques the miasma of urban Indian life with suggestive symbols of violence that impinge on the sphere of the private, creating an edgy uncertainty." (Gayatri Sinha, www.grosvenorgallery.com)