Balraj Khanna retrospective dazzles with colour but lacks psychological depth
Balraj Khanna's six-decade retrospective at Ikon in Birmingham showcases a prolific artist drawn to vibrant fantasy and cosmic spectacle, filled with biomorphic forms and kaleidoscopic colour. Despite witnessing India's 1947 Partition as a child and living through 1960s London's social upheaval, his work demonstrates a consistent turn away from darkness towards escapism and theatrical wonder.
The exhibition reveals an artist who experimented extensively with style – from hard-edge minimalism to spray-paint effects – yet the work struggles to achieve psychological depth. An early painting called Ladies With Qualification, created during Khanna's recovery from a motorcycle accident, hints at capacity for genuine emotional expression through its direct depiction of suffering, suggesting the artist may have abandoned figuration because he found it too revealing, preferring instead the safer territory of abstract decoration.
- Six-decade retrospective emphasises colour and spectacle over emotional or historical substance.
- Artist who witnessed partition and lived through revolutionary era avoided depicting darkness or trauma.
- Early figurative work suggests Khanna chose escapist fantasy over exploring difficult human experience.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Balraj Khanna: Lines of Flight review – plenty of dazzle, but where is the darkness?”.