Artworld’s Most Wanted

For Mehta, history is something that undergoes a long gestation period. Quite like his paintings, which emerge after much thought. ‘‘The trussed bull and the fallen figure in my painting are corollaries, metaphors for the violence I experienced during the Partition, the fall of mankind and the entrapment of the human spirit. The content of my work remains the same, the representation has changed over the years,’’ he says thoughtfully.

The fact that several collectors are scrambling to unearth that one Tyeb painting that ‘happened’ to be lying around in their collection and put a new price label on it does not affect him. He continues to paint at his own pace, and word-of-mouth has it that he will not be selling works for a while. Until the market stabilises, that is.

It is a point well appreciated by serious collectors. ‘‘It is sad that the only reaction art gets is for its market value. It does not emerge from a genuine understanding of art,’’ says Usha Mirchandani, director of Fine Art Resource,a Mumbai-based gallery. Mirchandani owns a couple of Mehta’s works, which she has no intention of selling.

But then, Mehta has never been an artist dictated by the market. ‘‘Sometime ago, I had finalised the sale of one of his works and he requested me to leave it with him for a few days more so he could look at it,’’ reveals Mirchandani. “Another time, he was in the process of painting a huge composition, I think of Mahisasuramardini, with a fallen figure. Somewhere along the process, he became unhappy with the figures. He ripped the canvas and started right from the beginning.’’

‘‘I am particular about my compositions and there are an umpteen number of stages my work goes through,’’ confirms the artist, who is currently working on a composition of a fallen figure with a bird. The bird is a new element that has been introduced after much debate.

No wonder then that the artist’s annual output does not rise above 12 paintings. ‘‘I do not mean to undermine Tyeb’s commitment as an artist but it is a fact that since his works are so few and far between, the demand for them remains high,’’ comments Shireen Gandhy, owner of Chemould Gallery.

Another factor that plays a part in Mehta’s pace of work is his health. The stark image of the goddess Kali was the last painting that Mehta completed in 2001, before falling seriously ill. ‘‘I have been a heart patient for many years now and yes, it has made working more of a challenge,’ he says. Another series of unfortunate incidents were the three operations performed on his throat to remove nodules. That led to him losing his voice. ‘‘I am not a spontaneous or prolific painter. But I continue to paint, I don’t know of anything else,’’ he smiles.

The soft chalk lines appear on canvas. Later filled with paint they become colour fields. Contorted, dynamic, amorphous figures merge. They are the guides Mehta has been following since the 1950s to charter his journey along the lines of fire and angst.