Lot 117: Untitled

Shibu Natesan (B. 1966)
Untitled
signed and dated 'SHIBU NATESAN - 2004 WATERCOLOUR' (lower right)
watercolor on paper
46½ x 58 in. (118.1 x 147.3 cm.)
Painted in 2004; bearing label 'Name: Shibu Natesan Title: Medium: Watercolour on paper Size: 47 x 50 Year: 2004' (on the reverse)

Shibu Natesan's works are often distinctly 'un-Indian', reflecting an internationalist painting-language and refusing to bear obvious markers towards Indian themes or subject matter. Instead Natesan conjures up surreal and dream-like images from fragments of memories and popular culture that are multi-layered, personally symbolic and mysterious. In this work, Natesan depicts a pleasant almost bucolic scene complete with mint green rolling hills, chirping birds and small dog, patiently waiting for his master. The artists cleverly disrupts the agreeable and unchallenging character of the painting by placing a chain link barbed wire fence across in the middle of the scene.