Important Notice

Atul Dodiya has always been aware of the various issues involved in 'viewing' a work of art. From his early canvases to his current, frequently three-dimensional works, the artist has sought to engage his viewers with these problems, pushing them to consciously seek information about the art they encounter and arrive at their own interpretation of it, rather than unquestioningly accepting proffered explanations.

In the late 1980s... Atul Dodiya has always been aware of the various issues involved in 'viewing' a work of art. From his early canvases to his current, frequently three-dimensional works, the artist has sought to engage his viewers with these problems, pushing them to consciously seek information about the art they encounter and arrive at their own interpretation of it, rather than unquestioningly accepting proffered explanations.

In the late 1980s and early 90s, Dodiya worked on a series of stark, subdued canvases that presented these ideas to his viewers through the restrained palette and uncomplicated realistic idiom that defined his style at that time and won him critical acclaim and early recognition. These simple, flat representations were influenced as much by the British Pop artist David Hockney's humour and whimsical realism, as they were by the chiaroscuro of the famous interiors painted by Dutch Masters like Steen and Vermeer, and the witty and disturbing works of Indian modernist, Bhupen Khakhar.

In the present lot, a small format landscape, the artist paints a quiet, suburban scene viewed through the grey frame of the 'window' referred to in its title. Executed with a limited palette of muted colours, this painting offers a humourous take on the question of what kind of reality is represented through the framed works of art we hang on our walls, pushing the viewer to question both the limitations and the possibilities of painting.

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