Krishen Khanna (B. 1925)

Krishen?s work is figurative; he chose to not explore the abstraction that most of his contemporaries were delving into. In an interview with Saffronart he says ?I used to do abstracts earlier and I have now moved on to human forms. I thought that the person or the individual is being neglected ? the person in a particular situation who is influenced by the conditions around. I want to now emphasise the human beings caught up in their particular condition.? Bordering on the narrative, Khanna's work captures moments in history, much like photographs do, but the artist's technique is far from photo-realist. Khanna transfers his observations onto the canvas with spontaneity and exuberance, keeping the representational elements of his subject matter intact. The artist's use of colour and his expressionist brushwork make the mundane rise to the challenge of the creative. Recognizing his immense contribution to Indian Art, the Government of India has bestowed several honours upon him including the Lalit Kala Ratna from the President of India in 2004 and the Padma Shri in 1990. In 1964, Khanna was artist?in-residence at the American University, Washington D.C., and the next year, he won a fellowship from the Council for Economic and Cultural Affairs, New York following the travel grant they had awarded him in 1962.