Lot 284: Manu Parekh (B. 1939)

Celebration at Temple
Signed and dated at lower right: Manu Parekh 97'; signed and dated on reverse: Manu Parekh '97
Oil on canvas
40 x 30 1/8 in. (101.5 x 76.5 cm.)

Manu Parekh's artistic career began as a stage actor and set designer in Mumbai. Such experiences later infused his paintings with a sense of spectacle and theatricality. His palette, with its bold and sinewy brushstrokes, are strongly reminiscent of German Expressionism. The landscape overpowers the composition exuding a volatile energy that is barely contained within the frame. Its darker overtones are balanced by the warmth and light within the locus of the temple that contains an almost hearth-like atmosphere.