Page 54 - TheArtsTrust Krishen Khanna

100 YE ARS OF KRISHEN KHANNA

sounds of a marching band. Although their bright uniforms, gleaming brass,
and illuminated faces set a carnival-like tone—the bandwallas also bear
fatigue behind the display. The artist does not caricature these performers.
He approaches them with a blend of humour and respect. Often with aching
bodies and tired souls, these men perform without notice, repeating the same
melodies night after night for strangers’ pleasure. Their vivid attire echoes the
imperial military show and mocks the very power they once represented. The
Bandwalla, above all, has become an iconic Khanna signature, something he
explores to this day.
Khanna, through his life and work, has been an observer-interlocutor
in presenting India in all its forms. Sympathetic but distanced, involved
but balanced, he enables his characters to surface through visual dialogue.
With repeating motifs in his oeuvre that bear notes of humanity and grace,
the bandwallas, the fruit sellers, the soldiers, the scribes, the saints and the
sinners—and every manner of everyday human one encounters—offer a
vibrant spectacle. The true genius of Krishen Khanna lies in his reinvention,
as much of these characters as of himself. Now, at 100 years, the exceptional
master still retains a sense of discovery, and has given Modern Indian Art an
idiom that will never be forgotten.
~ Anandita Bhardwaj

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