Man sitting on the bed

Partha Pratim Deb has always been a maverick whose practice allowed him to experiment freely. The result has been a range of work with one leitmotif running through it—a sense of humour. The figure painted over magazine paper in this work imposes itself over the grandeur of the room, his legs splayed, playing cat’s cradle—his presence on the bed as difficult to explain as the puzzle in his hands. Interesting, however, is the room’s décor evoking nineteenth-century England with its Calico-print bedsheet, curtain, flower vase arrangement, and most importantly, an English-lady’s portrait overlooking the proceedings.