Figures

Partha Pratim Deb was born in the Sylhet district of Bangladesh in 1943. He was educated at two of the most significant art institutes of post-independent India, Santiniketan’s Kala Bhavan and the M.S. University at Baroda. Early guidance from artists and teachers at those institutions, like Ramkinkar Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee, along with the analytical insights of K. G. Subramanyan and Jyoti Bhatt gave Deb the impetus to explore set techniques and approaches to art. He experiments with an endless repertoire of discarded material, shifting and recycling them into a new pictorial language as can be seen in this work which contains 20 small square drawings on an invitation card that allows a translation of his ideas into hybrid forms and unique metamorphoses. Seen here are some seated figures in motion, framed by several machines that suggest an attempt to mechanize the movements of the human body itself.