Natvar Bhavsar

BEGINNINGS & SUBLIME LIGHT

AICON ART Natvar Bhavsar

BEGINNINGS & SUBLIME LIGHT

AICON ART | 35 GREAT JONES ST | NEW YORK, NY 10012 Primordial Energy by Carter Ratcliff 4 Beginnings + Sublime Light by Hussain Khanbhai 8 An Artist for Our Time by Barbara Pollack 10 Beginnings Works 14 Beginnings Exhibition 46 Sublime Light Works 55 Sublime Light Exhibition 76 About 90 Acknowledgements 96

2 3 Primodrial Energy: The Art of Natvar Bhavsar

By Carter Ratcliff

Natvar Bhavsar: Sublime Light, Works from 1975 to Valabhee orange turns an icy white in Shamana (1984) achieved it without the support those 1985 continues the story of the artist’s evolution launched though icy is not quite the right word, for this painting’s bright, painters gave one another. Bhavsar in 2019 with the Aicon Art selection of paintings from 1967 almost glaring passages shade off into warm grays. Shama- was and continues to be friends with to the early 1970s, the years in which the artist first be- na is both icy and warm, expansive and contained. Ordinari- many artists and others in the New came known to the New York art world. During that peri- ly, these paired qualities would be contraries. In Bhavsar’s York art world, yet he has always gone od, Bhavsar divided his canvases into rectilinear zones and art, they co-exist without paradox, so capacious is the space it alone on the plane of the aesthetic. filled them with glinting colors. One could see in these di- of the imagination that he opens up with his color-spreading Clyfford Still once said that he visions faint echoes of the that influenced his ear- gestures. Thus, Arjuman III (1984), is dark but also luminous. meant each of his paintings to convey ly work or, just as plausibly, variations on the Minimalist Even the near-blacks that hover behind the painting’s streaks a single message: “Here am I; this is geometry that shaped so much art in New York during the of orange and yellow have a kind of brightness—a subtle my feeling, my presence, myself.” 1960s. Or, caught up in Bhavsar’s intricate play of chro- glitter that make itself known to a patient, close-up gaze. Those who do not respond to his art matic energy, one could set aside questions of allusions to Critics, curators, and just about everyone else in the art he dismissed as “fractional people.” earlier art. From the time of his New York debut until the world—except, of course, artists—are always eager to as- Still always tinged his self-assertions present, he has been a remarkably independent figure, sign a new painter to a category. When Bhavsar’s work with belligerence, as did the other Ab- in part because of his unique way of making a painting. first attracted attention, he was routinely called a color-field stract Expressionists. Bhavsar is just After stretching a canvas, Bhavsar lays it on the stu- painter. This made a certain degree of sense. Jules Olits- as confidently himself as were Still and dio floor and sifts powdered pigments onto its surface; at ki, Helen Frankenthaler, and others who were gathered his colleagues. After all, he invented crucial intervals, he applies a fixative. A painting is fin- under that label made big paintings, as did Bhavsar; like a unique method of painting and has ished when its mixture of colors finds the right balance him, they emphasized color and applied it, for the most employed it, with inexhaustible inven- of clarity and complexity. A close examination will re- part, without brushes. There were, however, crucial differ- tiveness, for over five decades. His veal the sequence of layers that constitute a painting, yet ences. Each of the color-fielders subscribed, more or less achievement is astonishing. Nonethe- one does not begin to see Bhavsar’s art until one looks faithfully, to the idea that painting is an exclusively chro- less, his art is not a vehicle for self-ag- past matters of process, as fascinating as they may be. matic matter; the full range of tones was to be avoided in grandizement. Bhavsar is vibrantly The many colors of Valabhee (1980) are all keyed to favor of a uniformly high-keyed palette. Bhavsar, by con- western coast of , Bhavsar arrived in the United States in 1962, having earned present in his art, yet his individual orange; fluctuations from light tones to dark produce an trast, employs not only myriad hues but extremes of light advanced degrees in literature and art. After a semester at the Philadelphia Col- presence is continuous with something undulating effect. Though abstraction appeared over a and dark. As we’ve seen, his brightest colors often owe lege of Art, he enrolled at the Tyler School of Art, also in Philadelphia. Within a larger—something difficult to name, century ago, we still have a habit of reading objects into their power to the proximity of shades verging on black. year, he had moved on to the graduate art department of the University of Pennsyl- especially in art criticism’s familiar and paintings, no matter how non-representational there are. So, despite the best efforts of admiring critics, he could vania, where he attended seminars conducted by the painter Piero Dorazio. Here rather limited terms. To hint at the full In Valabhee’s case, it is inevitable that we will see its flow- never be recruited to the ranks of the color-field painters. Bhavsar met Newman, Robert Motherwell, the sculptor David Smith, and other meaning of his art we must invoke the ing orange as a curtain. It might be tempting to fight this Bhavsar’s closest affinities are with the Abstract Expres- artists affiliated with . Though he never met Clyfford Still, idea of being and suggest, further, that inevitability, to try to see this painting as purely abstract, sionists, a remarkably disparate group of painters. Jack- he was impressed, almost overwhelmed, by a 1963 exhibition of Still’s paintings at when we find our way into the spirit but that would be a pointless struggle. Bhavsar has never son Pollock’s skeins of flung paint have little resemblance Philadelphia’s Institute for Contemporary Art. Two years later, he earned a Master of his paintings, we come alive to the pursued an absolutist idea of abstraction. So there is no to ’s unruffled expanses of color, and none of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania. With the help of a Rocke- nuances of our own existences, as in- harm done if we are unable to banish the thought of a cur- of their work has much in common with that of Clyfford Still feller Fellowship, he moved to New York—more specifically, to Manhattan, where dividuals and as inhabitants of a cos- tain from the vicinity of Valabhee, for it cannot obscure the or Philip Guston. “Abstract Expressionism” names a gen- he established a studio in the Soho loft building where he still works and lives. mos that—as Bhavsar intimates with overriding point: a curtain is a secondary thing, a surface eration of painters, not a shared style, yet the Abstract Ex- The Manhattan art world’s mid-60s were dominated by Pop Art and Minimal- the scintillating pulse of his colors— to be drawn aside to expose something hidden, whereas pressionists formed a close-knit group, and Bhavsar’s Amer- ism. Neither distracted Bhavsar from his own development, which had attained endlessly regenerates itself from its the orange of Valabhee is primary. In its surface is the life ican education introduced him to the visionary ambition they its first stage by the end of the decade. Still in his thirties, he had becomea own, luminously primordial energies. of the painting, a flickering texture of pigment that makes shared—an ambition with which he felt a deep sympathy. unique—and uniquely original—figure in the history American art. His artistic in- visible the artist’s joy in exercising his pictorial powers. Born in Gothava, a town in the state of Gujurat, on the dependence was as complete as any Abstract Expressionist’s; moreover, he had

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1 Enwezor, Okwui. 2001. “Where, what, who, when: a few notes 2 Sol Le Witt (“Paragraphs on Conceptual Art”), on ‘African’ conceptualism.” Authentic, Ex-Centric: Conceptualism Artforum June 1967. in Contemporary African Art. 72-83. Hassan, Salah M. 2011. “Ra- chid Koraïchi: A Conceptualist Apart.” Rachid Koraïchi: Eternity is the Absence of Time, 6—13. 6 7 Beginnings + Sublime Light

By Hussain Khanbhai

Claiming ‘color’ as his medium, Bhavsar has been rectangular compartments, two to four per picture, each one “It is a reverse form of archeology, and is perhaps Bhavsar continued this exploration in smaller works on exploring the sensual, emotional, and intellectual resonance a different, dominant flat color inflected with dry pigment. closer to the process of nature or the entropy of cities that paper, not so much studies as fully realized works in their of color since the early 1960s. His paintings evince influences Each component became a kind of color-field, the picture a have been eroded, deserted, destroyed, or simply lost in own right. The AA-KASH (meaning ‘sky’ in Sanskrit) series from his childhood in India, surrounded by vivid textiles, construction of color-fields.” time. Bhavsar restores this sense of lost time through his – an intimate suite of pastels on paper completed between practicing rangoli, and witnessing the Holi Festival, and By 1969, the artist had already moved on to works intimate application of pigments. They are embedded in the 1981- 89 – is a good example of this. The small-scale is adulthood in New York in the 1960s and ‘70s, The current like MEGHA (1969) and VISHAKAA (1969) that were a surface of his work, reaching both microscopic and galactic deceiving to the extent that they suggest monumental-scale exhibition explores the latter influence - works created during celebration of color-field, unconstrained by segmentation proportions, depending upon one’s state of awareness and paintings. Not only are these abbreviated paintings important Bhavsar’s early foray into New York, in a milieu that included and line. The works were well received and exhibitions emotional receptivity to the amorphous shapes that the for their originality, coherence, and ebullient manner in Andy Warhol, Merce Cunningham, and fellow Abstract of Bhavsar’s works at the reputed Max Hutchison Gallery colors suggest.” handling color, but also in their awareness of contemporary Expressionists like . In his essay on the artist, (1970) and at the Jewish Museum (1970) were lauded by By the 1980s, Bhavsar’s canvases saw the important painting by an artist who at the time was literally on the cusp art critic Irving Sandler notes, critics. His works continued to mine the tenants of line and introduction of vertical flashes in his exploration of 1960s of the emerging multicultural art world. “Indeed, what Bhavsar has drawn from Indian life and his borders became increasingly obfuscated, evidenced in painting. Light and its interaction with material A striking feature of the 1980s work was the absence of culture, what he prizes in it, makes his art distinctive and works like REE-THA (1972) and AHEER (1973). This 5-year color was an obsession for the artist during this period. In an a lower border in the paintings– drawing the eye upward. valuable. In sum, Bhavsar has a personal vision that both span in the artist’s career thus marks an important period of essay on the artist, art writer Carter Ratcliff has said, In works like AMBHI II (1983) and OORVSEE (1985) this continues American color-field painting and embodies his transition, assimilation and synthesis – both his identity as “This (his) is the tradition of a specifically American effect is heightened by the vertical pours of color that hark Indian heritage.” well as his visual language. Sublime, which uses color and gesture to invoke a sense of to landscape painting but also to the notion of divine light, Bhavsar’s work evolved significantly when he moved to The immediacy in Bhavsar’s works is a result of the unbounded space and light.” thus referencing the sacred. This relates directly to the Philadelphia in 1962 to pursue an MFA. It marked a period ‘controlled spontaneity’ of his artistic process. The works are The energetic effect of these gestures makes the surfaces spirituality in the work, engendered as much by the physical of inquiry for the artist that culminated in a move to New York constructed using dry pigment that is often sifted, poured hum and vibrate, while their verticality indicates an abiding and emotional exertion the artist puts into it, as the ritual City in 1965 with a coinciding artistic departure. The cubist or otherwise dispersed onto eagerly prepared surfaces. The interest in architecture. The artist stresses the importance practice that contextualizes it. In a different essay on the tone of his work pre-1960 began to formalize into structured use of dry pigment is a direct physical and spiritual link to of the latter especially in works where the image seems artist, Ratcliff opines, paintings that straddled the realm of color-field painting. It the artists vivid connection to India. Each gesture marks to rise from the lower edge as if from the earth into ether. “It’s as if Bhavsar wants us to see darkness in a new way, was the work BEGIN (1968) that Sandler was thinking of this a specific distance from the work’s surface, a particular For instance, in Bhavsar’s SHAMANA (1984), the viewer not as the opposite of light but as a variant on it. In his art, work when he wrote, density of color and a measured movement of the body. The is confronted with a seemingly monochrome canvas which all is in flux; everything is both what it is and all that it might “In New York, Bhavsar continued to paint floating resultant surface is grainy and made up of a density of color upon further contemplation reveals a pulsating chorus of become.” organic and oblong color shapes, but they grew larger in varying tones. Referencing this process, art critic Robert muted colors peeking through. The feeling of lightness in and larger. Then he divided the picture plane into huge C. Morgan writes, contrast with an eerie gravity.

8 9 An Artist for Our Time

By Barbara Pollack

“Meditative,” “Transcendent,” “Beautiful”— these are Born in 1934 in Gothava, a small village in the sophisti- know that in India decorations are made by drawing with creativity derives from their national background or authen- words that have been used to describe the paintings of Nat- cated state of , Bhavsar received first a post-colonial colored powder on the ground and that Bhavsar has made ticity, rather than their insights into global contemporary var Bhavsar throughout his 50 years as an artist. Now he education in India’s top art school, finishing his education in some of these decorations….This is interesting but not very art. While true in some ways, this description glosses over works as he always has, by brushing dry pigment through the United States at 28 years old with an MFA at the Univer- revealing…in the New York setting, he shares his method as Bhavsar’s unique innovations and his sophisticated knowl- screens onto wet canvas soaked in acrylic medium in up to sity of the Arts at University of Pennsylvania. During his time much with Pollock as with the practitioners of Indian deco- edge of both Indian and Western art history. 80 or more layers. These mammoth fields of color have been there, Bhavsar met the painter Piero Dorazio, director of the ration.” “Bhavsar recognizes that the response to his colors will interpreted and reinterpreted over the decades, often saying program, and his American education began in earnest. He While affiliation with the New York school may have el- be as individual and ethnocentric as the individual viewer, more about the history of art criticism than the evolution of benefited most from his encounters with the artists invited to evated his stature as an artist on one level, Greenberg’s and that the observer will inevitably impose a set of criteria an artist. Now is the perfect time to review this artist, born in meet with MFA candidates, among them Robert Motherwell, own insistence that abstraction expressionism is a unique- from his own experience,” writes Lowery Sims in her 1984 India but living in the U.S. since 1962, not as an Asian Amer- Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Frank Stel- ly American innovation left out many immigrant artists (of article in Arts Magazine. And so it has proven true that each ican but as the transnational fgure he has been way before la, and the sculptor David Smith. On visits to New York, he non-European descent) and limited Bhavsar’s inclusion into decade has provided a new interpretation of Bhavsar’s the term was adopted. renewed his acquaintance with the work of Jackson Pollock the canon. On the other hand, from the beginning, this art- multi-layered paintings. For Sims, the challenge is how to Bhavsar’s painting is an oasis of contemplation. As early and Mark Rothko, which he saw for the first time in a 1957 ist raised the issue of Indian influences as well as Western evaluate the work of a dual nationality artist without resort- as 1972, Carter Ratcliff described the paintings as follows: traveling MOMA exhibition in . In 1965, having influences, recalling the vats of vivid dyes at his grandpar- ing to the simplistic equation of East meets West. “There “The cloudy shimmer, the glowing, flickering light in Natvar received a grant of $10,000 from the John D. Rockefeller III ents’ textile shop, the frescos in the caves at Ajanta and the are significant distinctions in Natvar Bhavsar’s approach to Bhavsar’s recent paintings gave them the look of sky over Foundation, he moved to New York and aligned himself with decorations at Hindu temples. As Irving Sandler asserted in space and in the meaning that color has for him and his an unimaginably beautiful landscape.” In 2008, Irving San- the New York school of painting that he had long admired. 2008, “Above all, Bhavsar recalls the impression made on work that are predicated by his cultural heritage; to discern dler in his great book on the artist writes, “In a world racked From his perch in Soho in an apartment/studio where he him by the use of color in Hindu rituals, notably Holi, during these nuances, one must delve deeper than a literal surface by national conflicts, racism, genocide, famine, pollution, still lives, Bhavsar met with almost immediate success. In which dry pigment was thrown everywhere.” impression.” ecological devastation, and crime, Bhavsar’s painting is an 1969, he was included in the Whitney Biennial and in 1970, Bhavsar’s delightful tales of his Indian upbringing proved Likewise, Kathleen Finley Morgan in Art Asia Pacificgoes oasis of contemplation in which alienation, desperation, de- he was featured in an important exhibition at the Jewish Mu- highly informative when he first showed in the West, edu- one step further in 1994, eloquently describing the meditative spondency, rage, and other psychic wounds can be calmed, seum. Since then, he has shown nearly continuously, includ- cating critics and curators who tended to see these so- state induced by these glowing canvases, which she also at- a state of repose necessary to human beings.” Even with ing a show at the Wichita Art Museum and a recent retro- phisticated works purely in terms of American art criticism, tributed to the influence of Asian culture. But as Bhavsar told such continuous praise throughout his career, Bhavsar has spective at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University categorizing Bhavsar as a Color Field painter. Critics drew the author, “Nirvana is not a flying high kind of ecstasy. It is not received the sustained attention an artist of his stature but never at a major metropolitan museum, an oversight that comparisons to Rothko and Pollock, emphasizing similari- surrounded by something unknown. This is what I encounter deserves. demands correction. ty of process (painting on the floor) and the concretization when I relate to the experience of pure engagement in my Now is precisely the time to review and re-research his The first reviews of his work in the early 1970s precluded of color as subject matter. However, while these American work. All the meaning, all the mystification, and all the my- oeuvre, not as an Indian artist or an American artist, but as any reference to Bhavsar’s Indian heritage, referring only to painters conveyed a somber existentialism, Bhavsar ex- thology you can attach to it sometimes enlarges it but it does an early example of transnational identity, slipping between the materiality of his paintings and its similarities to Color pressed the joy of his process and the ecstasy of transcen- not really clarify it.” cultures in ways that redefine binary and limiting terms Field painters. This interpretation gave primacy to Clement dence. Just two years later, Asia Society held its groundbreak- such as “Asian American art.” Bhavsar’s painting is an oa- Greenberg’s agenda for American painting and ignored cer- As his career developed, so did American art criticism’s ing Traditions/ Tensions exhibition, featuring the works of sis of contemplation. In each decade of his career, critics tain characteristics that made Bhavsar’s work unique, such appreciation for non-Western cultures, which showed up in Southeast Asian artists, but no diaspora artists, excluding have reviewed Bhavsar’s paintings positively, but in what as its textured surfaces and a passion that exceeds the pa- reviews of his work. His paintings were often described as a Bhavsar. Tellingly, in his catalogue essay, Thomas McEvil- can politely be called an evolving comfort level with art by rameters of Formalism. It also eliminated an appreciation bridge between “East and West,” a formulation that is widely ley announces a sea change in the way these artists can a non-Western artist. While his paintings have always been of Indian culture and the unique role of color in the rituals, applied to many Asian artists living or showing in the U.S. be considered. “It is no longer a matter of non-Western or deeply appreciated, Bhavsar supersedes categorization by fabrics and foods of the artist’s home country. For example, even to this day. This formulation relied on an emphasis of non-Euro ethnic people confronting Western models; it is mere geographical or cultural differences. in Carter Ratcliff ’s 1972 essay he states “It’s interesting to biography, reinvigorating the assumption that Asian artists’ now a situation in which the West has to adapt to the inde-

10 11 pendent self-definition of other cultures in a way that it has to music in his studio as he fills his work with his state of joy. long resisted.” Even now, this statement is supremely rele- Better yet is the newly released book, Productive Failure, vant to a consideration of Bhavsar’s paintings, requiring a by Alpesh Kantilal Patel in which he invents the term “queer new, more integrative approach to transnational artists with Zen,” to examine Natvar Bhavsar’s work. “I do not want to global careers. The distinctive influences in this artist’s work, set up a binary between the formal properties of the work from Holi to Rothko, are not oppositional. They are synthe- and the author as completely distinct entities,” he writes em- sized in ways that only underscore Bhavsar’s genius. phasizing that queer Zen does not imply a sexual subterfuge Natvar Bhavsar got his American citizenship in 1996 or identity politics, but that abstraction has a unique ability to when he was 62 years old. More recently, he built a house convey the artist’s body movement without specifically iden- in Ahmedabad designed by the renowned Indian architect tifying the gender, race or nationality of the artist. This allows Sen Kapadia. Diaspora artists, artists with dual nationalities, viewers to move beyond “post-partition India and post-Sec- are now most often described as transnational, living some- ond World War United States and to consider Bhavsar’s work where on the “Mid-Ground” as defined by leading Asian crit- though other frames.” In this new interpretation of Bhavsar’s ic Hou Hanru. As critics and even the Museum of Modern painting, the artist is credited with balancing “extremely felt Art broaden their definition of modernism to “modernisms,” sensuousness and extremely felt contemplation.” they express a willingness and desire to open the canon to Key to this analysis is the history of Asian and Asian Amer- women, African American artists, African artists and even ican artists in the United States post-WWII, their widespread Southeast Asian artists. The challenge is how to view these exclusion from major art museums and collections. Natvar artists without reinforcing oppositions between their place Bhavsar managed to overcome many barriers and succeed of origin with their newfound locations. With the impact of on certain commercial terms. His work is in museum collec- globalization, especially in a country like India, the regional tions: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum divides are not as pronounced and not accurately applied. It of Art, National Gallery of Australia, Philadelphia Museum requires inventing new terminology to capture the synthesis of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney of cultures now in play, a synthesis that definitely applies to Museum of American Art. He is also in an abundance of cor- Natvar Bhavsar and his paintings of universal appeal. porate collections including UBS, Chase Manhattan Bank, For example, a recent show at the Guggenheim, titled Estee Lauder, Inc., Westinghouse and Young & Rubicon, Marking Time: Process in Minimal Abstraction eschews Inc. among many others. Bhavsar is a successful artist on formalist descriptions entirely. Instead, the curator David many terms, but he has not received the widespread visibil- Natvar Bhavsar with Elwyn Lynn at Greene Street studio, New York, 1976. Photograph: Janet Brosious Bhavsar Horowitz emphasizes the way these artworks “allow viewers ity he deserves. to imaginatively reenact aspects of the creative process.” For fifty years, Natvar Bhavsar has transcended all limita- As such, he is a key figure in our understanding of global This can be equally applied to Bhavsar’s paintings as they tions placed on artists of his background by creating artworks contemporary art with a biography that reflects the seismic invoke awe at the attention needed to apply pigment dust to that go beyond a mere meeting of East and West. His pre- change in this field. Now is a perfect time for a thoughtful large scale canvases, over and over again, until achieving scient paintings anticipate a more sophisticated appreciation reevaluation of Bhavsar’s longevity and accomplishments glowing hues with twinkling surfaces. Viewing their unique of art in the age of globalization. And he did this all without by critics and curators studying transnational artists. Some style of lyricism, you can almost imagine Bhavsar dancing relinquishing his roots or assimilating into American culture. would say such a study is long overdue.

12 13 BEGINNINGS

Sept 20 ­— Oct 20, 2018 16 17 UNTITLED 1967 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper 100 x 74 in.

18 19 UNTITLED BEGIN 1968 1968 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic Pigments and acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on linen 97.75 x 100.25 in. 97.5 x 144 in.

20 21 VISHAKAA MEGHA 1969 1969 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on canvas 82 x 96.5 in. 82 x 96.5 in.

22 23 R-DHYA REE-THA 1972 1972 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on canvas 96 x 96 in. 96 x 96 in.

24 25 JESUL 1971-1988 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas 108 × 90 in.

26 27 AHEER 1973 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas 92 x 96 in.

28 29 KONARAK II 1978 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas 108 x 46 in.

30 31 UNTITLED II UNTITLED VI 1968 1969 Dry pigments with oil and Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper acrylic mediums on paper 45 x 50.25 in. 43 x 52 in.

32 33 UNTITLED IX 1971 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper 53 x 42 in.

34 35 UNTITLED IV UNTITLED III 1968 1968 Dry pigments with oil and Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper acrylic mediums on paper 42 x 53 in. 43 x 52 in.

36 37 UNTITLED XI UNTITLED VII 1971 1970 Dry pigments with oil and Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper acrylic mediums on paper 53 x 42 in. 53 x 42 in.

38 39 UNTITLED XIII UNTITLED XIX 1971 1973 Dry pigments with oil and Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper acrylic mediums on paper 53 x 42 in. 48 x 39 in.

40 41 UNTITLED XVIII UNTITLED XX 1973 1973 Dry pigments with oil and Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper acrylic mediums on paper 48 x 39 in. 48 x 39 in.

42 43

42 UNTITLED XXI 1973 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper 48 x 39 in.

44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 SUBLIME LIGHT

July 18th — August 8th, 2020 56 57 ARCHAN BHRUGU 1980 1980 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on canvas 74 x 68.5 in. 84.5 x 68.5 in.

58 59 AMER 1977 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas 57 x 66 in.

60 61 OORVSEE II OORVSEE 1985 1985 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on canvas 84.5 x 68.5 in. 84.5 x 68.5 in.

62 63 MRINA SHAMANA 1978 1984 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on canvas 66 x 60 in. 68.5 x 84.5 in.

64 65 ARCHAN III ARCHAN IV 1980 1980 Dry pigments with oil and acrylic Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on canvas 74 x 68.5 in. 74 x 68.5 in.

66 67 VALABHEE ARCHAN II 1980 1980 Dry pigments with oil and Dry pigments with oil and acrylic acrylic mediums on canvas mediums on canvas 84.5 x 68.5 in. 74 x 68.5 in.

68 69 AJANTA VII AMBH II 1987 1983 Dry pigments with oil and Dry pigments with oil and acrylic mediums on paper acrylic mediums on canvas 49.5 x 45 in. 74 x 68.5 in.

70 71 AA-KASH IIX AA-KASH IX AA-KASH IV AA-KASH V 1987 1987 1983 1984 Pastel on paper Pastel on paper Pastel on paper Pastel on paper 21 x 17 in. 21 x 17 in. 21 x 17 in. 21 x 17 in.

72 73 UNTITLED I UNTITLED I 1987 1983 Pastel on paper Pastel on paper 21 x 17 in. 21 x 17 in.

74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 ABOUT

Claiming ‘color’ as his medium, Natvar Bhavsar has ex- original artists from the SoHo school – along with a variety of Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1985 plored the sensual, emotional, and intellectual resonance gallery and museum exhibitions internationally. His paintings Pembroke Gallery, Houston, TX of color for over 50 years. Born in 1934, Gothava, India, evince influences from his childhood in India, surrounded by 2004 Natvar Bhavsar studied at the Seth CN College of Fine Arts vivid textiles, practicing rangoli, and witnessing the Holi Fes- Small Scale Paintings, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New Twenty Years of Work on Paper, The Wichita Art Museum, in Ahmedabad. At the same time, he obtained a degree in tival, and adulthood in New York in the 1970s. York, NY Wichita, KS English Literature from Gujarat University. He continued his The artist is included in numerous public collections and education in America, at the University of Pennsylvania’s institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Boston 2003-2004 1984 Graduate School of Fine Arts, where he received his MFA in Museum of Fine Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, ACP Viviane Ehrli Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland Getler/Pall/Saper Gallery, New York, NY 1965. Upon graduating, Bhavsar received a John D. Rocke- Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary feller III Fund Fellowship, after which he taught for a few Art in Sydney and the National Gallery of Australia. He also Art-Garage, Zug, Switzerland 1979 years at the University of Rhode Island. Bhavsar has shown features in notable private collections in the US, Germany, Color Experiences, The Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS widely in New York where he has been a longtime resident France, India, Australia and the Middle East. 2003 1978 and central figure in the art world – one of the few remaining Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY 2002 Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Max Hutchinson Gallery, Houston, TX

Select Solo Exhibitions Color Immersion, Sponder Gallery, Boca Raton, FL 2001 Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, FL Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY 2020 2013 1977 Natvar Bhavsar: Sublime Light, Aicon Art, New York, NY Color Immersion, Sponder Gallery, Miami, FL 2000 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY Art-Garage, Zug, Switzerland 2019 Energy of Color, Freedman Art, New York, NY Kingpitcher Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA Natvar Bhavsar: Beginnings, Aicon Art, New York, NY World Economic Forum, Annual Meeting 2000, Davos, 2012 Switzerland Suzette Schochet Gallery, Newport, RI 2018 Resonance of Color, Contessa Gallery, Cleveland, OH Elements of Color, HG Contemporary, Madrid, Spain Celebration Colors: Three Decades of Painting, Dialectica 1974 2010 Gallery, New York, NY Kenmore Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2017 RANG, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hong Kong, China DAG Modern, London, UK 1997 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY Phenomenon, HG Contemporary, New York, NY 2009 Paintings, ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland RANG, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA 1972 2016 1996 Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY Natvar Bhavsar: The Dimension of Color, 2008 Pastels and Paintings on Paper, Bose-Pacia Modern Museum of Art DeLand, DeLand, FL RANG, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Gallery, New York, NY Gallery A, Sydney, Australia

2015 2007 1992 1971 Natvar Bhavsar: Five Decades, Cara Gallery, New York, NY The Dimensions of Color, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Paintings, Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor, FL Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY Museum, New Brunswick, NJ 2014 1988 1970 RANG RASA (Transcendent Color), Tower 49 Gallery, New 2006 Pastels - Paintings on Paper, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY York, NY Poetics of Color, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY India Gallery A, Sydney, Australia White Symphonies and Red Flowers, Wichita Art Museum, 2005 Pastels - Paintings on Paper, Contemporary Art Gallery, Wichita, KS Small Scale Paintings, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New Ahmedabad, India Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India York, NY

90 91 1969 Storytelling: Highlights and Insights from the Wichita Art Midnight Full of Stars, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, 1997 Obelisk Gallery and Parker 470, Boston, MA Museum Collection Sept…ongoing, Wichita Art Museum, Summit, NJ Abstraction INDEX, Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York, NY Wichita, KS 1968 2007 1995 Obelisk Gallery, Boston, MA 2012 Colors, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY La Raccolta D’Arte Contemporanea, Le Nuove Donazioni, Abstract Expressionism, National Gallery of Australia, Museo Civico, Taverna, Italy 1967 Canberra, Australia Inner Journey, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY University of Delaware, Newark, DE Back to the Future: Contemporary American Art from the 1991 2011 Collection, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA Nel Piu’Ampio Cerchio, Angolazioni E Prospettive Della University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI Facing East, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Visione Nell’Arte Contemporanea, Centro Museografico, 2006 Taverna, Italy 1964 Forces of Nature, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly Hills, Next Level, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Art Alliance of Philadelphia YM-YMHA Art Council, CA Il Sud del Mondo, I’Altra Arte Contemporanea, Galleria Philadelphia, PA East/West, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Civica D’Arte, Pizzo, Italy 2010 1963 RASA Contemporary Asian Art, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, 2005 1981 Kenmore Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Hong Kong, China Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Fifth Triennial, New Delhi, India

Select Group Exhibitions Mirrors of Continuous Change, Seonhwa Art and Culture 2004 1979 Foundation Gala, Seoul, South Korea Time and Material, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, Works on Paper, U.S.A., Rockland Center for the Arts, 2018 NY West Nyack, NY Staff Favorites, Alpha 137 Gallery, New York, NY 75 Years of Collecting American Art, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS 2003 1978 Abstraction 18: Further a-Field, 1970s, Charles Nodrum Continuous Connection, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New Painting and Sculpture Today, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Gallery, Richmond, Australia 2009 York, NY Indianapolis, IN Infinitum, Museo Fortuny, Fondazione Musei Civici di Grand Opening HG Contemporary Napa Valley, HG Venezia, Venice, Italy Seeing Red, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, New 1974 Contemporary, Napa Valley, CA York, NY Ruth S. Schaffner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Gallery A, Campbelltown Arts Center, New South Wales, 2017 Australia Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Eight from New York, Reed College, Portland, OR Abstract Expressionist Paintings, Sculptures and Works on Paper, Alpha 137 Gallery, New York, NY The Third Mind, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New 2002 1973 York, NY India: Contemporary Art from Northeastern Private Works on Paper, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY Memory and Identity, Indian Artists Abroad, DAG Modern, Collections, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers New Delhi, India Late 20th Century Abstraction from the Collection, Boca University, New Brunswick, NJ American Academy of Arts and Letters Art Gallery, New Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL York, NY 2016 Compass Points, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Memory and Identity, Indian Artists Abroad, DAG Modern, 2008 1971 New York, NY Dimensions of Color, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Beverly 2001 New York Survey, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN Hills, CA The Inner World, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, NY Split Visions Abstraction In Modern Indian Painting, Aicon Beaux Arts, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, OH Gallery, New York In Your Mind’s Eye, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, The Inner World, Asian American Art Center, New York, NY NY Aspects of Current Painting, University of Rochester, 2015 ACP Vivane Ehrli Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland Rochester, NY Don’t Shoot the Painter, Paintings from the UBS Art East/West: Grand Opening Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Collection, Galleria D’Arte Moderna Di Milano, Milan, Italy Gallery, Hong Kong, China 1998 1970 ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland Insights – 1970, Parker Street 470 Gallery, Boston, MA 2014 Drishti: Pan-Asian Group Show, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Hoerle-Guggenheim Gallery, New York, NY New York, NY 3 Immerzeit 3, ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zurich, Some New York Painting, Reese Paley Gallery, San Switzerland Francisco, CA

92 93 Selections by Guest Curator, School of Visual Arts Art 1961 Gallery, New York, NY National Art Exhibition, Amritsar, India

Beautiful Painting and Sculpture, Jewish Museum, New Progressive Painters of Amdavad, Ahmedabad, India York, NY Gujarat State Art Exhibition, Ahmedabad, India Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Gujarat Sahitya Sabha, Ahmedabad, India

Painting and Sculpture Today, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Rabindra Shatabdi Exhibition, Kolkata, India Indianapolis, IN 1960 Highlights of the Season, Larry Aldrich Museum of Art, Bombay Art Society Annual Art Exhibition, Mumbai, India Ridgefield, CT (Special Mention)

Recent Acquisitions, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1956 New York, NY Bombay State Art Exhibition, Mumbai, India (Prize)

Two Generations of Color Painting, Institute of Collections Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, PA Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL Boston Recent Acquisitions, Power Institute, University of Sydney, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA Metropolitan Museum of Australia Art, NY Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Solomon R. 1969 Guggenheim Museum, NY Concept, Vassar College of Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY Whitney Museum of American Art, NY Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS 1966 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia Contemporary Indian Arts, American Society for Eastern Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia Arts, Lincoln Center, New York, NY Bermuda National Gallery, Hamilton, Bermuda UBS Art Collection, Zurich, Switzerland Fifteenth Biennial Print Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY

1964 Regional Painting and Sculpture, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA

94 95 Thank you Natvar Bhavsar, Janet Bhavsar, Prajit Dutta, Harry Hutchison, Hussain Khanbhai, Timm Mettler, Rowena Hosein-Baksh, Erica Kyung, Jie Ying Mei, Ashna Malik

Essays Carter Ratcliff Barbara Pollack

Exhibition Text Hussain Khanbhai

Graphic Design Alex McAdoo

Artwork Photography Sebastian Bach

Printed by Puritan Capital

Published by Aicon Art, New York, 2020

2020 © Aicon Art and Natvar Bhavsar

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