Painting, City for Sale, by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, painting, oil on canvas, India, 1981-1984

The painting, in oil on canvas, depicts the city of Baroda, Gujarat, and the events that took place during the early 1980s. 'City for Sale' represents an epic scene stirred up with the subject of Baroda's communal riots. In the centre one can observe a cinema which is showing the film 'Silsila'. A hoarding painter is shown depicting the eye of a cinematic heroine on a billboard. This scene, as pointed out by the artist, alludes to 'Chakshudana pata', a folk tradition in eastern India, in which a painter fills in the portrait of a person recently deceased, with an eyeball, in an attempt to give vision to the sighteless spirit of the dead.

Surrounding the cinema are street scenes of Baroda life. At the top of the picture is a riot scene, figures spill out over buildings. Narrow alleys beyond the scene can be seen simultaneously as escape routes as well as representing a maze of anxiety. On the top right is a leper, nearby rioters strip other men to see whether they are Muslims. At the bottom left, vegetables spill from a vendor's cart; tiny figures appear trapped into the veil of a vegetable vendor. In the bottom left hand corner are landmarks of Baroda.

See artist's comment on this work in 'Historical Significance'.

Copyright Gulammohammed Sheikh

Purchased from the artist. Registered file: 1985/74

Historical significance: Of the subject the artist has said: 'Our rich and valuable experience of diversity of faiths, ideologies, attitudes, has been brutalized by successive bands of mafiosi, who have subverted the process of continuous and positive transformation that this wonderful mix should normally lead to. My painting is about the irony and absurdity of this brutalization. The city of Baroda where I live, like other Indian cities, has been brutalized in this way and my painting is about Baroda.'
Gieve Patel has observed that the painting resembles a 'vortex or a volcanic eruption' in which things clash and pour into eachother.

The painting depicts the city of Baroda, Gujarat, and the events that took place during the early 1980s. 'City for Sale' represents one of the artist's most ambitious paintings of the eighties, where an epic scene is stirred up with the subject of Baroda's communal riots.

In the centre one can observe a cinema which is showing the film 'Silsila'. Surrounding the cinema are street scenes of Baroda life. Figures drop from a riot scene over buildings and vegetables spill from a vendor's cart. Narrow alleys beyond the scene are simultaneously escape routes as well as mazes spelling anxiety. The artist depicts a leper, visible on the top right hand side, nearby rioters strip other men to see whether they are Muslims; tiny figures appear trapped into the veil of a vegetable vendor.

Of the subject the artist has said: 'Our rich and valuable experience of diversity of faiths, ideologies, attitudes, has been brutalized by successive bands of mafiosi, who have subverted the process of continuous and positive transformation that this wonderful mix should normally lead to. My painting is about the irony and absurdity of this brutalization..'

IS.15-1986