Fitting laugh-out-loud tribute to much-missed thespian

Gautam Paul was born in 1965 in Kolkata, India, and from an early age he showed creative skills in drawing, painting and composing.

He attended the Government College of Art and Craft at the University of Calcutta and was awarded his BVA degree in 1990.

He had ambitions of becoming an art director in a leading advertising agency and joined the Ogilvy & Mather company as a commercial artist.

However, he had a tremendous setback in 1998 when his father died suddenly.

Overcome with grief, depressed and disillusioned with the commercial world, he developed strong feelings about the material world and began to channel them into his art, reflecting the way he saw (and still sees) society as the perennial struggle between opposites.

Influenced by Klee, van Gogh, Picasso and others, Paul works mainly in acrylics on canvas, and his energetic images have a huge impact with their strong lines and bold use of colour.

This is a rare opportunity not only to view but also to acquire some of these works, which have attracted much critical acclaim and appreciation in both India and the UK.