Archaeology of Experience
For the last 40 years, Rameshwar Broota has been mapping a vast terrain of visual experiences. He has moved from the purely representational to abstract and back to figurative works. In the process, he has created a distinctive visual language combining elements of realism and expressionism. He has moved beyond recording manifestations of the human condition and has set out on a search to capture glimpses of a metareality.
In his recent series of canvases, Broota paints on an imagined darkened space close encounters between the human body and massive man-made objects. These contrasting juxtapositions of man and material in a cosmic void grapples with the enigma of existence. The resilience of fragile human flesh pitted against adamantine materials and forms presents a speculative take on the nature of life.
Writing about Broota's Metamorphosis series, poet and critic Keshav Malik stated in 2001, "For him to create images means to seek eternity in the corporeal or in the countenance." Malik's observation on the artist's relentless search for an inner core of abiding truth that transcends the limits of time and space aptly describes Broota's style.
- Ella Datta
