Page 123 - Present-Future-September-2023

Lot No. 95

NATARAJ SHARMA
b. 1958

SAMA TALAV
72 x 108 in (183 x 274.3 cm)
Acrylic on canvas
2023
` 30,00,000 – 35,00,000 | $ 37,500 - 43,750

Signed & Dated: Verso

The presented lot is a large-scale work, reaching
six feet, and depicts Lake Sama in the city of
Vadodara, where the artist resides. Nataraj
Sharma spent his childhood and formative
years living in multiple countries, such as Egypt,
England and Zambia. These diverse, cross-
cultural experiences instilled in him a profound
sense of displacement and ambivalence. Yet,
paradoxically, these very encounters became the
cornerstone of his expansive and resolute visual
lexicon, adding gravitas to his artistic scope.

Shaped by his perceptive insight into the swift
evolution of urban environments, his canvases
contemplate the repercussions of such rapid
transformations. The artist achieves his vision
through intricate visual dialogues and an
inventive amalgamation of diverse elements:
fragments of memory, panoramic vistas,
technological motifs and the natural world.
Executed through a distinctive visual cipher, he
lends fresh connotations to familiar imagery,
resulting in grand-scale works that are dramatic,
broody, quiescent and defiant.

Nataraj Sharma graduated from the Faculty of
Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University in 1982.
His artistic exploration spans various mediums
and genres, yielding an opulent body of work
characterised by both substance and form. His
artistic prowess was acknowledged with the
Sotheby’s Prize for Emerging Artist in 1993.
Notably, he participated in an artist residency
program at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute
(STPI) in 2006, further enriching his artistic
odyssey. Nataraj Sharma’s oeuvre has taken
centre stage in a plethora of solo and group
exhibitions hosted by museums and galleries.