AN AIR OF ABSTRACTION

A major retrospective at DAG Delhi puts the spotlight back on veteran artist Shanti Dave

- Shanti Dave

"Throughout my career, I have always been a rebel," says Shanti Dave. "When the Air India people contacted me, they said they needed murals before certain offices of theirs would be inaugurated. Now, most artists like Husain sahab would take two-three months for a big job like this one, a mural. But I wanted to finish it in 15 days. I said 'Yes' and told them that my wife would be helping me. Luckily for me, it turned out alright."

The 91-year-old Dave is being modest, for he is considered one of the more important Indian artists of the 20th century. The aforementioned murals at Air India offices around the world have been acknowledged as exemplars of art in public spaces. His turn towards abstraction, characterised first by encaustics-and-oil combinations in the 1970s and '80s, painstakingly-composed woodcuts and later, smaller and much more colourful palettes through the '90s and the 2000s, shows us the evolution of a truly gifted and instinctive artist.