Born in Bombay in 1934, the artist Bhupen Khakhar was active in India from the late 1960s. A gentle radical, his luminous paintings addressed issues of class, gender and sexuality with sensitive, often tragicomic nuance. The first important publication on Khakhar in more than a decade, and the only one to take a comprehensive look across his entire oeuvre, this lavishly illustrated survey aims both to introduce the artist to a new audience and to move beyond established views, presenting a fresh take on his artistic, social and spiritual interests. Significant essays on Khakhar's artistic influences, the importance of cosmopolitanism to his work and his frank explorations of mortality are accompanied by focused responses to key works by leading writers, curators and artists. Khakhar's unique voice is revealed in an excerpt from the last interview before his death in 2003, and in a series of reproductions of the humorous artist's book Truth is Beauty and Beauty is God, out of print since 1972. A visual biography, illustrated with photographs annotated by those who knew the artist, provides the greatest insight yet into the context of Khakhar's life and inspirations. Beautifully produced, and coinciding with a major new exhibition at Tate Modern, this publication is an essential reference to one of the most compelling and unique voices in twentieth-century art, as well as a significant contribution to the field of international modernism. Includes essays from prominent art historian and curator Geeta Kapur, and curators Shanay Jhaveri and Nada Raza. With in-focus contributions from artists Timothy Hyman, Gulam Sheikh and Vivan Sundaram, and high-profile academics Devika Singh, Karin Zitzewic and Adrian Rifkin.
