Since the beginning of his career Broota
has been deeply involved in the contemporary human situation
that degrades individuals and pollutes relationship
between them on the social plane. His early oil paintings,
showing ‘humanized’ gorillas, were corrosively
satirical and showed the artist’s concern for
the socio-moral being of man. Over the decades, though
not a prolific painter, Broota evolved a technique of
painting mostly in monochrome: On the canvas surface,
usually painted in matte black, he works with a sharp,
thin blade to bring in light and forms, exposing the
white surface below, creating deep spatial dimensions.
In this phase he focuses on monumental humans, wounded,
hardened and somehow dehumanized. In some paintings
he shows man against a forbidding wall on which appear
illegible hieroglyphics, suggesting the inscrutable
destiny of man. His highly personalised technique less
painterly in application of paint, has the quality of
a graphic print.
His paintings have been shown in many solo and prestigious
groups shows, namely:
- 1977 ‘Pictorial Space presented by the Lalit
Kala Akademi, New Delhi;
- 1982 ‘India: Myth and Reality’, Museum
of Modern Art, Oxford;
- 1982 ‘Modern Indian Painting’, Hirschhorn
Museum, Washington DC;
- 1986 Saddam Centre for International Art, Baghdad;
- 1976 International Art Fair, Cagnes-sur-Mer;
- 1998 Solo show at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi.
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