Haemoglyphics (Archipelago of Aches)

2009
Oil and acrylic on linen, bronze
74 x 144 in./ 188 x 366 cm.

Haemoglyphics (Archipelago of Aches) (2009) and Traumanama (The Cry of the Gland) (2009–10), displayed in the new wing) are related suites of paintings centred on intuitively drawn, carcass-like paint formations. Indirectly drawing from anatomical studies yet bearing no resemblance to actual anatomies, these mutant muscular forms evoke bodies under strain. Symmetrical renditions of bone and muscle that resemble Rorschach inkblots are overlaid in the painting with images of urban decay.

The work is clutched in the mouths of bronze gargoyles replicated from stone friezes at the entrance of the iconic Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) railway station in Mumbai.