India, June 26 -- Even if you've only glanced at a work by Bikash Bhattacharjee, who passed away in 2006, you'll probably find it hard to get it out of your head. The works are often creepy, unpleasant to look at, and may cause you to recoil. Boy From Simla (1982) depicts a figure of a young boy, in a ratty sweater, his head floating over his body. Durga (1985) is a back view of women at Pujo - but two have turned around, watching the watcher, clearly uncomfortable. But that's also why the works are beautiful and powerful. Beyond that deliberate grotesque is incredible emotional depth, as there often is in life as well, if we only care to look.

Bhattacharjee was born in 1940 in Bengal to a family that migrated from the East to West at Pa...