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Bhupen Khakhar(also spelled Bhupen Khakkar, born Bombay10 March 1934 died Baroda8 August 003! Bhupen

Khakhar"as a leading artist in #ndian contemporary art$ %e "or&ed in Baroda, and gained international recognition 'or his "or&$

ontents

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1 +or&s

arly li 'e

3 areer

4 A"ards - honours

. Boo&s on /ha&har

ee also

2 e'erences

8 ternal lin&s

Works)edit*

/ha&har "as a sel'5trained artist, and started his career as a painter relati6ely late in his li'e$ %is "or&s "ere'igurati6ein nature,

concerned "ith the human body and its identity$ A sel'5pro'essed homoseual)1*,)1*the problem o'genderde'initions and gender

identity "ere ma7or themes o' his "or&$ %is paintings o'ten contained learned re'erences to#ndian mythologyand mythological

themes$

Early life)edit*

Bhupen /ha&har "as born in Bombay and spent his boyhood in the area called /het"adi "ith his parents and three siblings$ %e

"as the youngest o' 'our children, and his 'ather, armanand, "as an engineer and "as an eternal eaminer at :;# matunga,

Mumbai$ armanand dran& hea6ily and died "hen Bhupen "as only 'our years old$ %is mother Mahalami "as a house"i'e, and

she soon in6ested all o' her hopes in her youngest child$

;he /ha&hars "ere originally artisans "ho came 'rom the ortuguese colony o'

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/ha&har?s oil paintings "ere o'ten narrati6e and autobiographical$ %is 'irst ehibited "or&s presented deities cut 'rom popular prints,

glued onto mirrors, supplemented by gra''iti and gestural mar&s$)3*%e began to mount solo ehibitions as early as 19.$ ;hough the

artist had been largely sel'5taught, his "or& soon garnered attention and critical praise$ By the 1980s /ha&har "as en7oying solo

sho"s in places as 'ar a"ay as ondon, Berlin,Amsterdamand ;o&yo$)4*

;he artist?s "or& celebrated the day to day struggles o' #ndia?s common man$ /ha&har?s early paintings depicted a6erage people,

such as the barber, the "atch repairman, and e6en an assistant accountant "ith "hom he "or&ed$ ;he painter too& special care to

reproduce the en6ironments o' small #ndian shops in these paintings, and re6ealed a talent 'or seeing the intriguing "ithin the

mundane$).*%is "or& has been compared to that o'