The Hour of the Day of the Month of the Season – 1

2013

Acrylic, oil, household gloss and pencil on canvas

84 x 207 in. / 213 x 526 cm.

Human experience of time—as the span of a life, as endless repetition of a daily routine, or the duration of a meal or a journey— is a recurrent theme in the artist’s oeuvre. Seen against hazy outlines of decrepit buildings in the painting Hour of the Day of the Month of the Season are commuters from the streets of Mumbai, their heads crowned by mini cityscapes in place of hair. Trees sprout from bodies and a chlorophyll molecule hovers in front like a cloud, cradling a house holding a sunset within it. Signs of decay are interspersed in this painting with images of growth and regeneration, all linked together by motifs evoking the passage of time.