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Art has the power to infinitely capture different aspects of the world around us. As an art collector and supporter of artists and arts education in India, I have seen a lot of good work. Some, however, are outstanding. Here are 11 artworks I consider works of genius. timelessness. A classic work of abstraction, with the soft brush strokes and colour field of the work blending into each other, this canvas has been part of my collection for over 13 years. Dhawan’s training at the Ecole des Beaux Arts is evident in his masterful exploration of abstraction in the work.

Husain was one of the pioneers of modern art in India. This painting has been in our family for years, acquired from the Chawla Art Gallery. The painting depicts the Goddess Saraswati playing the veena, framed against calming hues of blue. Husain renders the figure of the goddess using a freehand manner of drawing and in vibrant colour, a signature style of painting and portraiture that was highly modern in nature. It beautifully captures the act of playing music, framed in a reverential and modern manner as both a depiction of the goddess with her instrument and a study of the playing of the instrument itself.

(1987)

Shibu Natesan’s work is characterised by a deep engagement with critical realism through a transformation of our everyday life into metaphorical works of art. Natesan is inspired by media and popular culture, adding humorous interventions as his artistic touch. I had acquired this work from the Vadehra Art Gallery, and it has been a part of my collection for about seven or eight years now. The painting is a happy portrait of a young child, but also represents a different cultural ethos in its frame.

The photo-realistic nature of the work is evident in the manner in which Natesan employs his palette, the figure painted against a dark background. The work plays with our expectations of ‘realism’ itself that demands a loyalty of representing the truth of the image. Natesan’s experiments with critical realism are evident in this work through his insertion of his artistic intervention with the expectations of realism from the image.

8. SHIBU NATESAN,

(2008)

Navin Thomas is an experimental contemporary artist whose work has explored sound, electroacoustics and their effect on natural ecologies. I acquired this work in 2012. Thomas’ practice has engaged deeply with sound and its various iterations, from spending hours recording audio from the street to making automated sculptures that function as music

9. NAVIN THOMAS, CONTINUUM

boxes and have the ability to play sounds when activated. An avid collector of electronic ‘junk,’ Thomas works with mixed media and often employs sound material and vintage technology into his functional sculptural works. This sculpture is made of wood, copper brass and black mirror, with a text engraved onto the instrument: ‘Satiate in Oblivion’. The statement references a state of bliss where one is unaware of one’s immediate surroundings, and is an invitation for us to enjoy the music box and its instrumental masterpieces.

(2011)