This super-cropped close-up oil painting on canvas of a young man who gently gazes with passive dark eyes outwards, the details of his young and innocent face rendered in hyperreal detail is a tour-de-fore work that underscores why 'emerging' Indian artist Riyas Komu is considered on of the most important realist painters of his generation. The portrait is painted in nearly monochromatic tones and with no narrative to root the figure, thus psychological tension is heightened, balancing the sublime manner in which Komu has painted the portrait and belongs to the artists famous large-scale series of oil portraits of young Indian men and women in specific yet anonymous emotional and physical situations. This work has never been offered on the secondary market, comes from a Private Collection, UAE and is in excellent condition, measuring an impressive 60 x 48 inches unframed.

Focusing on painting, sculpture, photography, and video installation, one of the most important Contemporary Indian artists working today, Riyas Komu (b. 1971) creates powerful works, which speak to the inherent paradoxes of India, caused by the extremely wealthy and the incredibly poverty stricken populations. Describing his work as "Neo-realism", Komu often focuses on the common man’s plight and struggle through life in a modern day society. His paintings, as seen here, specifically adopt his photo-realist style in order to be manipulated for socio-political protest, infusing his compositions with silent emotion to expose travesties experienced throughout the world. Currently living and working in Mumbai, the artist has held shows the world over including those at National Gallery of Modern Art (Mumbai, India), Aicon Gallery (NY and London, UK), and the Visual Arts Center (Hong Kong, China).