Texts: Ina Puri
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD: APPRECIATION OF M.PRAVAT’S WORKS
“The images in rich oil, depicting imaginative spaces and hedonistic orgies straddle the naive and ingenuous world of make-believe, achieving miraculously a fine balance in the process. The artist’s imagined Utopia, harks back fascinatingly to another time zone, leapfrogging adroitly to an age where such gracious rituals of leisure were possible. In spirit, the artist seeks thus a romantic alignment with the Past Perfect. An undertone of pathos underlines this whimsicality of the Absurd. The artist reinvents not only his surroundings but himself as well, we see Pravat, suavely attired. Clark Gablesque in canvas after canvas. The book-lined shelves, the grandly laid buffet, and the packed bags become metaphors. The colour palette of warm tones serenades that classical bygone and ‘Gone with the Wind’ comes to mind.”
(excerpt from the catalogue essay, Theatre of the Absurd: Appreciation of M.Pravat’s works, by Ina Puri)