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NATARAJ SHARMA
(b. 1958)
Urban Animal (Horse)
Signed, dated and inscribed 'Nataraj/ NATARAJ SHARMA/
URBAN ANIMAL (HORSE)/ 19 JAN 2006 ‒ 27 FEB 2012/ 19 JAN
06/ BARODA' (on the reverse on both panels)
2006 ‒ 2012
Oil on canvas
91.5 x 133.5 in (232.5 x 339 cm)
Rs 40,00,000 ‒ 60,00,000
$ 63,495 ‒ 95,240
(Diptych)
EXHIBITED
Ideas of the Sublime
, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 5‒10 April 2013
The present lot is an unusual composition from Sharma’s
otherwise machine‒oriented works, and suggests a new concern
for the artist.
Urban Animal (Horse)
depicts a domesticated
horse standing in front of an ornate gate. The opulent setting
is at odds with the equine animal whose rustic–looking harness
and saddle point to its plebeian ownership. Sharma has created
other similar works in which animals or humans stand alone
against an elaborate backdrop. These works reiterate the artist’s
preoccupation with confronting the collision between nature and
the manmade environment. Sharma’s art is informed by global
socio‒political events, combined with his experiences of growing
up in Egypt, UK and Zambia, and studying art in India.
Sharma’s
Vapi Horse
, painted in
2003‒2004, is similar to the present lot
and depicts a solitary, domesticated
horse at the centre of a barren field, seen
from afar.
Vapi Horse
, 2003‒04 (Diptych)
Saffronart, New Delhi,
10 September 2015, lot 68