DESTINATION I 1984, Oil and Beeswax on Canvas 50 x 60 in.

I love railway stations, crowded during the day or empty at midnight.
During my formative period, I resolved many artistic issues while
traveling by local train from the suburb Ghatkopar, where I live, to
Victoria Terminus, in town.
I often wonder why artists write/sign their name in front of the painting!
I have still not understood that logic. I had just passed out from the art
school, when I painted ‘Destination I’. I thought, if I have to write my
name in front of the painting, why should be somewhere in the corner
or behind the bush! I used the station sign device to resolve this doubt.
Is it a station sign or is it a painting of a station sign! I was heavily
influenced by the American painter Jasper Johns then. Obviously it
was urban, contemporary and it was different from my friends’ works
which were either abstract or figurative.