Untitled

It was rare for Prabhakar Barwe—one of India’s foremost abstractionists known for his artistic investigation of space and object—to explore the narrative genre. Yet, he does just that in this Untitled work from 1988, when he had already crystallised his personal philosophy of abstraction. Through a globe bearing human fingerprint—in an allusion to Anthropocene—and a raised human palm, Barwe here makes a comment on the impact human activity has on the earth with dire consequences for future generations; the sparse green and profusion of brown sum up the mood of the work.