Acclaimed veteran artist Krishen Khanna recently exhibited at London’s Grosvenor Gallery. As all things in life, galleries have also had to adapt to the all-pervasive pandemic and Khanna’s formalist paintings were only available to view online, making art accessible yet distant at the same time.

The gallery format is not the only thing that has had to adapt; this new body of work titled Paintings From My Sitting Room, a brand-new series of small-scale paintings, is an outcome of Khanna shifting his studios from the basement of his home to his living room, a shared space between himself and his wife, that doubles as a library, sitting room and, as of late, his studio as well.

The room, albeit slightly chaotic compared to his original studio, is a happy place for the artist to paint from. Here Khanna is surrounded by photos of family and paintings from friends and artists, members of the Progressive Artists Group, and more.

With his figurative paintings, Khanna aims to represent people caught in certain conditions and circumstances. This current exhibition is no different. Khanna Khanna has revisited a previously pondered subject for this series, the bandwallas [band players].

Of his interest in the subject, Khanna says, “For some time now I have been creating a whole regiment of bandwallas. I was part of a school band myself. This is an essentially British institution which fell on hard times at the end of that era. You went to the bandstand after church on Sunday and listened to march tunes like Colonel Bogey on Parade. With the end of the British Raj, the people who played in these bands were impoverished overnight. Seeing them in tatters saddened me immeasurably. Watching them playing in wedding processions — the new order — bemused me. It’s a Chaplin-esque situation.”

Krishen Khanna’s most recent paintings are an extension of his ‘bandwalla’ series, but on a smaller scale and reflect the current moment

These new paintings, made between 2020 and 2021, serve as a snapshot in time, marking history and the effects of the pandemic on people. As restrictions have been extended to weddings in India, that has further devastated these uniformed musicians.

Most of the paintings in this exhibition are close-ups of the bandwalla’s faces and features as they concentrate on their craft, playing instruments and making music. Most of the paintings included in this exhibition boast a warm colour palette.

The painting Untitled (The Flute Player) is a warm monochromatic piece in shades of yellow and ochre. This zoomed-in portrait of a musician playing the flute is a blurry yet accurate depiction of a bandwalla at work; both hands holding the flute are in motion, fingers of one hand raised as the subject controls the instrument, eyes drawn in concentration, nose flared, this piece exemplifies the skill that goes into playing any musical instrument, while simultaneously illustrating Khanna’s style of painting, colour application and his use of a dry brush.

Another piece, Untitled, is a small oil on canvas that deviates a bit from the rest of the series and presents a slightly different composition. The forefront of the painting shows three fourths of a bandwalla in uniform from behind, elbows out on either side, suggesting that he’s playing an instrument hidden from view. Seemingly hunched, his posture implies that he is using a whole lot of strength to do his job and make music.

Khanna’s gestural mark-making on the uniform pushes this musician closer to the viewer while the flattened paint in the space flanking the musician pushes that area into the background. On the extreme left of the painting is another musician in profile, facing right, leading the eye of the viewer back to the first bandwalla. The colour palette for this painting is different, more muted than the other paintings in this showcase, making use of gray, white and yellow tones.

Available in the online viewing room are also several videos and photos of the artist in his studio-cum-living room, providing insight into Khanna’s practice.

Paintings From My Sitting Room was up at the Grosvenor Gallery in London from 21st May — 23rd June 2021. The exhibition can be viewed online at grosvenorgallery.com/exhibitions/273/

Published in Dawn, EOS, June 13th, 2021