Balraj Khanna: Born in India Made in England
“Celebrating life in words and pictures”. Balraj Khanna – “Born in India Made in England” – his new book – in tandem with his Art Exhibition at Osborne Samuel Gallery 23 Dering Street W15 1AW until April 14th 2022. The Vernissage was on Wednesday 30th March 2022. Venue opposite John Lewis, off Oxford Street and near Oxford Circus. The gallery is 100 yards from Bond Street. His daughter Kaushalia did talk on the opening night. Laure Morris is his literary agent.
A very busy Vernissage was enjoyed by many at the opening of Balraj Khanna’s current exhibition, where he was also signing copies of his latest book.
Balraj describes his art as highly individualistic yet distinctly personal. But basically, it derives from the “Universal” style influenced by Indian Art in general and 20th-century art in particular.
He has his works in The Hayward Gallery, The Serpentine, Tate Britain, National Gallery of Modern art, New Delhi, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, The V&A, London and numerous other leading Galleries and Museums.
Balraj uses sand with a white primer on canvas and then he paints his themes in bright colours. The sand makes the finished work acquire a distinctive “shimmering and scintillating” look. My personal feeling is that I sometimes think of Spanish artist Miro in a ‘slim similarity’ in style to those works of Balraj Khanna.
It took Balraj five years to write his latest book, “Born in India, Made in England”, which covers his early life in India as one of a family of nine children, to his arrival in England and after which many charming and fun moments along the way are documented. His daughter (one of two) Kausalia says he recorded his life meticulously in diaries and kept them private and safe though they were inspirational material for many of his writings. She did a short talk at the gallery. Balraj and their family in India were affected by the divisions during the .cataclysmic partitions in 1947 which is documented in his writings.
Balraj arrived in England in 1962 at the age of 22 in very cold winter. He has been a friend of Peter Osborne of the gallery for very many years but relating to his current riveting autobiographical book, he says his book was published through post and telephone and he met his publishers at the launch. He worked on the book with a lady called Laura Morris – his literary agent, who believes the language is exquisite and there is the hope of a film follow up. One of Balraj’s two daughters spoke at the book and art event and said, “Dad recorded his life meticulously in diaries and they are private. No one was allowed to see them but they are influences for his published works”.
For some of Balraj’s artworks (which are quite large), he worked with the canvasses on the floor including the ground floor of his family mews apartment and has recently been cataloguing them, especially during lockdown when he also took up doing “mini sculptures” referred to broadly as “bricolage” (illustrated).
Previous books by Balraj Khanna:-
National of Fools
Sweet Chillies
Mists of Simla
Rajah King of Jungle – for children
Indian Magic
Line of Blood
He has also written books on art:-
Art of Modern India
Kalighat Paintings
Krishna, The Divine Lover
Human and Divine, 2000 Years of Indian Sculpture
Drop by the first-floor gallery to see Balraj’s work and pick up a copy of the book. Both paintings and 3D artworks are meticulously executed and a joy to behold as well as being extremely collectable. The book contains colour illustrations and is skillfully presented and published by Unicorn Press.
www.osbornesamuel.com
Enjoy.
Penny Nair Price