DESMOND LAZARO: Recent Works

 Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, is pleased to present the gallery's first exhibition of works by Desmond Lazaro, an artist who has lived and worked in India for over 15 years.  In India, the artist not only reconnected with his cultural heritage, he fastidiously studied the ancient tradition of miniature painting-specifically that of Pichhvai painting-under one of the only surviving masters of the tradition, Bannu Ved Pal Sharma of Jaipur, Rajasthan.  Lazaro apprenticed under Sharma for over a decade, becoming proficient in this painstakingly meticulous and laborious ancient craft that involves all stages of art production, from hand-making paper, cloths, pigments and brushes to eventually painting, burnishing and embellishing these stunning works with precision and ornate detail, typically involving entire studios of artisans. Lazaro has since applied the discipline and skills he acquired working in the Pichhvai tradition to his own body of work-meticulously-rendered paintings of contemporary subjects and concepts, which have earned him critical acclaim and exhibitions around the world.  This conflation of tradition and modernity, collective and individual, ancient craft and innovation, religious and secular and East and West, results in a visually exquisite and uniquely expressive body of work.