The Potatoes

Partha Pratim Deb’s innovative approach to his art can be traced back to his younger days in Agartala, where his practice was defined by the materials available to him. In the mid-1970s, he began to paint on surfaces like Masonite board or ply board— such as this Untitled work—to explore the limits of his canvas. This work is almost a premonitory expression of the later-day consumerism of India, painted when Indian economy had not yet embraced global forces of capitalism. A basket full of aspirational goods looms larger-than-life over a sea of human faces looking up longingly.