Shishir Bhatt Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Shishir Bhatt Art Value Price Guide

Jul. 22, 2026
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN, ACRYLIC ON CARD
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN, ACRYLIC ON CARD Worked in pen, ink and acrylic on card, the composition assembles a frontal head from an inventory of carpenter's and draughtsman's tools. A drip-edged black bar crowns the upper register, beneath which a measuring tape arcs across the brow above a single large eye, its pupil marked with a cross. The cheek and jaw are constructed from a planked and riveted surface, banded by metal straps studded with screw-heads, while the left contour of the face is formed from the toothed blade of a handsaw, its wooden handle rendered as a folded leaf of Devanagari manuscript. A trowel descends from the temple to form the nose; a pair of red pliers stands in for the mouth; a carpenter's plane, inscribed PLANE, forms the lower jaw, terminating in a hammer laid horizontally along the chin. To the right, a hacksaw frame encloses a chess king and bishop, a clock-face and a stencilled tag reading CV-26, with further labels 193-2710 and KV-9 above, and a vertical rule numbered in reverse closes the right edge. Signed SHISHIR in pen at the lower right, with a further inscription in Devanagari along the upper right margin. The head is built entirely from instruments of measurement, cutting and joining, and reads as a portrait of the maker by the means of making. The saw-edge profile and the manuscript-wrapped handle place the act of cutting against the act of writing, while the eye marked with a cross and the rulers running along brow and jaw propose vision itself as a calibrated operation. The chess pieces enclosed within the hacksaw, the clock-face, and the catalogue-style alphanumeric tags introduce a second register of signs, in which the human face is indexed, numbered and filed alongside the tools that compose it. The Devanagari passages anchor the image to a specifically Indian textual field, set against the English word PLANE and the industrial labels, so that script and serial number occupy the same surface. The assembled-object head belongs to a long modernist lineage running from Arcimboldo through Picasso and the Surrealists, and was taken up by several Indian artists of the post-Independence generations as a vehicle for questions of identity, labour and the printed or inscribed word. Bhatt's handling, with its dense stippling, cross-hatching and patterned infill across every surface, is closer to the graphic discipline of pen-and-ink illustration than to painterly abstraction, and the restriction of colour to a single red passage at the mouth and a tan ground for the manuscript concentrates attention on drawn structure rather than chromatic effect. Acrylic is used here as a flat, opaque medium in service of line, the support of card giving the sheet the character of a worked panel rather than of a drawing on paper. Length x Width: 77 x 54cm
PLAKAS
Jul. 22, 2026
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN, ACRYLIC ON CARD
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN, ACRYLIC ON CARD Of vertical format, the composition centred on a single oversized head turned three-quarters to the viewer's left, the face occupying the upper register of the sheet and the elongated neck tapering toward the lower edge. The figure is rendered in black ink and acrylic on cream card, the work signed "SHISHIR" in black at the right-hand margin. The face is constructed as a field of contrasting densities, divided into discrete zones each filled with its own pattern. The left side of the face, in shadow, is given over to a dense pebble-like mass of rounded forms; the central plane of the cheek and forehead carries a stippled ground populated by small dancing stick-figures, zigzag motifs and scattered dots, recalling the visual vocabulary of central Indian tribal wall-painting. A single large almond-shaped eye sits high on the face, the pupil rendered as a heavy black disc within a finely hatched iris, the brow a row of upturned flame-like strokes. The nose is reduced to a long flat plane terminating in a small round nostril, the mouth a closed horizontal band stippled in fine dots. Hair rises from the crown in heavy black ribbons that curl into spirals at their tips, bound by a horned ornament across the brow. From the ear depends a chain-and-pendant earring of three drops, and the long neck is encircled at its base by a beaded torque with a floriate clasp, the neck itself patterned in an irregular lattice. The decorative grammar of the face draws openly on the iconography of Gond, Warli and related Adivasi traditions of central and western India, the dancing figures and zigzags within the cheek functioning as a kind of inset citation of tribal wall and floor painting. The artist deploys these motifs not as ethnographic record but as the surface of a modern, semi-cubist portrait head, the picture plane treated as a mosaic of patterned cells in the manner familiar from the post-Independence generation of Indian modernists who absorbed folk and tribal vocabularies into an easel idiom. The horned headdress, heavy braid, ear pendant and neck ornament suggest a tribal sitter, though the treatment is generalised rather than specific to one community. The medium of pen, ink and acrylic on card lends itself to the close graphic discipline visible across the sheet, where every zone is worked at the scale of the nib. The restriction to a near-monochrome palette throws weight onto line and density, the white of the card reading as a positive element between the black masses of hair and the stippled grey of the skin. This drawing exemplifies a strand of contemporary Indian practice in which the formal language of European modernism is filtered through the surface conventions of indigenous painting traditions, the head reconfigured as a carrier of pattern rather than likeness. Within Bhatt's own graphic output, the sheet stands as a characteristic example of his pen-and-ink portrait heads, in which tribal ornament and modernist faceting are held in deliberate equilibrium. Length x Width: 77 x 54cm
PLAKAS
Mar. 24, 2026
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN "UNTITLED" ACRYLIC ON CARD
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN “UNTITLED” ACRYLIC ON CARD In this untitled work, Shishir Bhatt turns his meticulous linear vocabulary toward a deceptively simple subject: two monkeys poised upon the bare limbs of a tree. Yet within this pared-back composition lies a rich interplay of observation, symbolism and graphic refinement that is characteristic of the artist’s practice. The scene unfolds against an open, unmodulated ground, allowing the sinuous branches to arc diagonally across the picture plane. One monkey sits astride the upper limb, alert and self-contained; below, the second hangs suspended, gripping the branch with both hands. Their bodies form a dynamic counterpoint of tension and balance—one grounded and watchful, the other playful yet precarious. The narrative is understated but charged, evoking themes of dependence, hierarchy, companionship or even gentle mischief. Bhatt’s technique is defined by extraordinary pen precision. The monkeys’ fur is built from dense, repetitive hatchings and stippled marks, creating texture and volume without recourse to heavy modelling. The wood grain of the branches is rendered in flowing contour lines, contrasting organic rhythm with the more tightly worked surfaces of the figures. Strategic accents of red—most notably on the monkeys’ faces and select patterned details—punctuate the otherwise monochrome palette, injecting vitality and directing focus. The lower monkey’s limb and tail incorporate geometric patterning, subtly recalling textile or tribal motifs and reinforcing the artist’s interest in surface design. Despite the compositional economy, the work retains a decorative sensibility, balancing figuration with ornamental abstraction. By isolating the figures within a largely unoccupied field, Bhatt heightens their presence and emotional resonance. The result is both intimate and emblematic: a study of interaction distilled through disciplined line, restrained colour and quietly incisive wit. Length x Width: 77 x 53.5cm
PLAKAS
Mar. 24, 2026
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN "TWO MONKEYS" ACRYLIC ON CARD
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
SHISHIR BHATT (B.1965), INDIAN “TWO MONKEYS” ACRYLIC ON CARD Shishir Bhatt’s Two Monkeys presents a striking fusion of figuration and intricate patterning, rendered in his distinctive graphic language. The composition is structured around a bold silhouetted profile, within which an elaborate mosaic of playing cards, symbolic motifs and densely worked linear designs unfolds. The result is both playful and conceptually layered, inviting the viewer to navigate a visual field that oscillates between narrative suggestion and ornamental abstraction. The two monkeys, integrated within the broader collage of imagery, emerge not as naturalistic studies but as emblematic presences—woven into a matrix of hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades. Cards overlap and cascade across the surface, interspersed with stylised eyes, floral motifs and geometric textures. This accumulation of detail evokes themes of chance, duality and strategy, while the monkeys themselves may allude to observation, mimicry or human folly. Bhatt’s palette is predominantly monochrome—black inked patterning on a pale ground—punctuated with assertive accents of red that animate the composition and guide the eye. The disciplined linework ranges from tightly controlled crosshatching to rhythmic, almost meditative doodle-like passages. The interplay between negative space and dense ornamentation heightens the graphic impact, allowing the central form to read clearly despite its internal complexity. The silhouette format lends the work a contemporary edge, recalling both portraiture and iconography, while the surface detailing speaks to a sustained engagement with repetition and visual storytelling. Bhatt’s approach transforms familiar symbols into a layered psychological landscape, where wit and introspection coexist. Length x Width: 77 x 53.5cm
PLAKAS
Jan. 27, 2024
Shishir Bhatt. A Pair of Ornithological Watercolors
Est: $500 - $700
(Indian, b. 1965). Watercolors, each signed "Shishir" lr, sight sizes: 15 1/2 x 12 in. and 14 1/2 11 3/4 in., both framed, framed size: 22 1/2 x 19 1/4 x 1 inches.
Alex Cooper
Sep. 27, 2014
Shishir Bhatt Jaipur 1965 - Portrait - Fish I
Est: €3,500 - €4,200
Shishir Bhatt Jaipur 1965 - Portrait - Fish I Acrylic/canvas, 123 x 91,5 cm, lo. ri. sign. a. dat. Shishir 11, on the reverse sign. again, unframed. - Indian painter. B. started with painting very detailed a. meticulously excuted miniatures before transporting his style to larger canvases. He has the ability to combine everyday objects in a surprising way. His works were showcased
Auktionshaus Stahl
Sep. 27, 2014
Shishir Bhatt Jaipur 1965 - Portrait - Fish II
Est: €3,500 - €4,200
Shishir Bhatt Jaipur 1965 - Portrait - Fish II Acrylic/canvas, 123 x 91,5 cm, lo. ri. sign. a. dat. Shishir 11, on the reverse sign. again, unframed. - Indian painter. B. started with painting very detailed a. meticulously excuted miniatures before transporting his style to larger canvases. He has the ability to combine everyday objects in a surprising way. His works were showcased
Auktionshaus Stahl
Mar. 29, 2007
[ Sporting Memorabilia ]
Est: £200 - £300
Shishir Bhatt (Indian, 20th Century) Study of an Eagle, signed lower right 'Shishir', watercolour, 38 x 26cm; and, Study of an Eagle, signed lower right 'Shishir', watercolour, 49 x 35cm (2)
Cheffins
Mar. 29, 2007
[ Sporting Memorabilia ] Shishir Bhatt (Indian, 20th Century) Study of an Eagle, signed lower right 'Shishir', watercolour, 38 x 26cm; and, Study of an Eagle, signed lower right 'Shishir', watercolour, 49 x 35cm (2)
Est: £200 - £300
[ Sporting Memorabilia ] Shishir Bhatt (Indian, 20th Century) Study of an Eagle, signed lower right 'Shishir', watercolour, 38 x 26cm; and, Study of an Eagle, signed lower right 'Shishir', watercolour, 49 x 35cm (2)
Cheffins
Mar. 15, 2006
Shishir Bhatt, Indian b.1965-Bald Eagle; watercolour and gouache, signed, 38.7x28cm: together with a study of a Golden Eagle in watercolour and gouache by the same hand, similarly signed, 51x36cm., 2), (unframed)
Est: £200 - £300
Shishir Bhatt, Indian b.1965-Bald Eagle; watercolour and gouache, signed, 38.7x28cm: together with a study of a Golden Eagle in watercolour and gouache by the same hand, similarly signed, 51x36cm., 2), (unframed)
Roseberys