Padamsee showcases lithographs, solo in Delhi after 3 years

Mumbai based veteran artist Akbar Padamsee is bringing his solo show of lithographs here furthering his long time preoccupation with figures.
The show includes 20 lithographs done by Padamsee from 2008 to 2010 and comes after a gap of almost three years from his last showing here in January 2013.
Lithography is a technique using the mutual repulsion of oil and water. The image is drawn on the surface of the print plate with a fat or oil-based medium such as a wax crayon, and then pulled under the press to print the desired image.
Priyank Jain, Director, Dhoomimal.Com, which has brought the show titled "A Life Less Ordinary" at Triveni Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam says, "Padamsee's works have a lot of soul his human faces tend to capture the gamut of human suffering and exaltation. His almond, slit, or blank socket eyes rarely connect with the viewer, creating what the artist himself describes as "a look" - an expression of disembodiment.

"From pensive, dense, intense, droopy or distressed, Padamsee's Heads are as if a presence to be lived with each new day," he says.
Padamsee himself says, "It seems to me that it is not possible to ever exhaust all possibilities of imaging the human head each similar and yet so dissimilar to the other. My ardent search is for a look, a gaze, an expression, a stance, a placement."

Though the 87-year-old Padamsee has worked in every medium, be it oils, watercolour, sculptures, prints, computer graphics, photography and even film-making, and enjoys every bit of his eclectic art practice, his signature style working with light and shade is consistent across mediums.

"Though I must admit that Chinese ink was my favourite for a very long time. But it takes a lot of control to work in ink," he says.
In 2014, Padasmee suffered a fall injuring his hip bone, and for some time, he says "I could not paint."
"In the last few months, the recovery has been good and I have been painting continuously - have done oil paintings, drawings, even some photography. In fact, Priyasri Art Gallery is showing my solo of very large drawings - some 50-60 drawings - towards the end of this year," says the artist.