Natvar Bhavsar: Rang Rasa

This richly illustrated catalogue examines Natvar Bhavsar’s synthesis of Indian cultural heritage and American Color Field painting. Through careful analysis of pivotal paintings like THEER-A-THEER-A (1970)—a monumental thirty-foot canvas of subtle chromatic transitions from rusty red to deep purple—the publication demonstrates how Bhavsar’s unique technique of layering dry pigments, inspired by memories of India’s Holi festival and his family’s textile-printing tradition, generates luminous surfaces of unprecedented complexity. The volume traces Bhavsar’s artistic evolution from his early encounters with Abstract Expressionist masters like Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman in 1960s New York to his development of a distinctive painterly language that transcends cultural boundaries through its exploration of what the Sanskrit terms “Rang” (color) and “Rasa” (flowing movement) suggest about the relationship between chromatic intensity and transcendent experience.

Published by Tower49 Gallery, New York, 2015

Essay by Carter Ratcliff

Softcover, fully illustrated, 25 pages

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