Kolte’s abstract layering with paint echo cityscapes where the signs and textures reveal his modernist consciousness. Bands of color juxtaposed against each other create bold ascensions and recessions.
Style : The early work of Prabhakar Kolte shows the strong influence of Paul Klee, the Swiss artist and teacher whose childlike figures belie the sophistication of his richly textured surfaces. Indeed, Klee`s influence was felt by many of Kolte`s classmates studying at the J.J. School of Art in the late 1960s. Kolte`s debt to Klee can be seen in his technique of weathering his stronger colors, adding touches of white to age the effect of an otherwise bold hue. His early canvases are characterized by a single, dominant color in the background, on which lighter and more complex forms, both geometric and organic, are placed.
On returning to the canvas, he sought to “immediately cover up any identifiable image, making sure that my forms would function as pure colour in space.” His most recent works show a glossier, more finished approach to his early themes in paintings. The strong ground colour remains, but this time both it and the forms overlaid onto it retain a crispness in line and colour: the “weathering” inherited from Klee has dropped out in favor of more finished – and thus more abstracted – fields of colour.
About the Artist :
Born : 1946 in Maharashtra.
Education :
He received his diploma in painting from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai in 1968.
He later joined Sir J. J. School of Art in 1972 and taught for 22 years till he retired in 1994.
Selected Solo Exhibitions :
• 2007 – Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai.
• 2006 – Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi.
• 2001-02 – Galerie Muller and Plate, Munich, Germany.
• 2000 – Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore.
• 1999 – Admit One Gallery, New York.
• 1997 – Vadehra Gallery, New Delhi.
• 1996 – Galerie Foundation for Indian Artist, Amsterdam.
• 1991 – Sakshi Gallery, Chennai and Bangalore.
• 1978 – Indo-German Cultural Society, Mumbai.
Selected Group Exhibitions :
• 2013 – ‘Edge of Reason- and beyond, into pure creativity’, presented by Indian Art Circle at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
• 2013 – ‘Nothing is Absolute: A Journey through Abstraction’, The Jehangir Nicholson Gallery at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai.
• 2009 – ‘Deep In Black’, Galerie Muller and Plate, Munich.
• 2001 – ‘Modern Indian Art’, organized by Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery, New York.
• 1997 – ‘Chamatkar’, organized by Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata, Whitley’s Art gallery, London.
• 1996 – Christie’s Auction, London.
• 1996 – ‘Three Artists’, Maya Gallery, Hong Kong.
• 1972 – ’25 Years of Independence’, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.
