Lovely Summer Day

Sakti Burman is unusual in his love of subjects such as leisure and pleasure. In his exploration of the experiences that enrich human experience, he turns to the transfigurations of consciousness made possible by cultural stimulation. In this work, we assembles a variety of such stimulations together: the artist''s model with her back to us, the flautist playing to a bird and monkey, who are properties from a mediaeval allegory introduced into normal life, a man reading a paper on a couch. All of these inhabit a Painting set on an easel, and standing outdoors; where a woman also sits, enjoying the Plesant weather with her lion at her feet, even as a carpet extends out into the lawn. Interior and landscape as, often in burman''s art, form a continuum here, all spatial divisions overcome by the fluid play of the imagination.

- Ranjit Hoskote