Bird in Landscape

While the application of paint and use of color bears strong resemblance to Padamsee's Metascapes, the distinguishing feature of this work is the presence of a bird within the abstract landscape. Padamsee has grappled with the issue of color versus form throughout the years. Where form dominated color in his earlier years, it is in the 1960s that the change to color over form is most noticeable. "Dual pulls of matter and spirit are always patent in his work... He sees his paintings as a bed of tensions created by 'the linear, the formal, the tonal, the chromatic' on which the form describes itself or 'remains in a fluid potential state.'" (Ella Datta, 'Akbar Padamsee', Art Heritage 8, New Delhi, 1988-1989, p. 40.)