Art, for me, is the ultimate bliss…’

Summing up his philosophy, Krishen Khanna has once stated: “Art, for me, is the ultimate bliss. Art can provide you with the metaphysical answers you have been looking for even whilst you are involved in its creation. They call it drawing. I really have no name for it. It's a compulsion, an itch. The more I scratch, the more I want to continue. It is enjoyable but it can also hurt when nothing emerges but an incomprehensible mess.”

In his new series put up as part of a grand retrospective show at LKA, Delhi, this largely self-taught artist has rewound the clock back to his pre-partition life in Lahore. It’s largely a recollection of events from his early childhood, when fight between Indian freedom fighters and the British rulers was at its peak. There are large format oil compositions done in monochrome that serve as an extension of his memories in Lahore’s cosmopolitan settings. He has used monochrome because, to put it in the artist’s words, if there’s something I wish to say, it is best to avoid the dynamics of color.

The series starts with an oil drawing of an old homeopathic doctor and an ardent Congressman, Gurbaksh Rai, bidding goodbye to his family members after being arrested by the British police. One of his canvases depicts his uncle going to a neighboring town along with his family. He was stopped in the way by the police, and threatened to shoot him. Fortunately, they didn't! Another of his compositions is about the blood-filled violence after the partition.

Drawn from leading private and public collections across the country, including the artist’s own, the show is a testimony to Krishen Khanna’s dynamic oeuvre. In essence, it maps the veteran artist's art and life through his prolific body of work. An illustrated catalogue featuring an apt introduction by the artist himself accompanies the exhibition.