Important Notice

Sakti Burman’s world is one of wonder-where myth, memory, and imagination quietly blur. In the present lot, two jester- like figures revolve around a central image like constellations in motion, their gestures playful yet deliberate. Known for his fresco- like surfaces, Burman developed a marbling technique-born from a happy accident in his studio-that gives his work its signature dream-texture, where pigment fractures into soft, luminous... Sakti Burman’s world is one of wonder-where myth, memory, and imagination quietly blur. In the present lot, two jester- like figures revolve around a central image like constellations in motion, their gestures playful yet deliberate. Known for his fresco- like surfaces, Burman developed a marbling technique-born from a happy accident in his studio-that gives his work its signature dream-texture, where pigment fractures into soft, luminous patterns. “He creates a chequered chromatic surface of visual splendour by means of a dense network of varied tones and textures charged in every detail with strong but disciplined aesthetic stimulation.” (Manasij Majumder, Sakti Burman: Dreamer on the Ark, Mumbai: Pundole Art Gallery, 2001, p. 10)

Trained in Kolkata and Paris, and inspired by Italian Renaissance frescoes, Burman draws freely from Hindu and European myths, childhood memories, and everyday relationships. His characters exist outside linear time, inhabiting a space that feels both theatrical and intimate. “In my painting everything originates from the real to give an impression of somewhere and nowhere.” (Kishore Singh, “All Aboard the Ark of Sakti Burman’s Dreamworld”, Sakti Burman: The Wonder of it All, Mumbai: Pundole Art Gallery and New Delhi: Apparao Galleries, 2012, p. 58) This is how Burman reimagines what a painting can be conceptualised as, employing it-not merely as a tool to tell stories, but a medium to cast spells-inviting viewers to enter, wonder, and get ensnared in his dreamy, crackled compositions.

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site