Hans Shinde holds up the tradition of still life painting in his own personal style. The items he picks from his home are selected for their shapes, textures and colour, rather than for any symbolic meaning. They are simply painted to convey the visual pleasure he experiences in looking at them. What he strives for is an overall effect, a unity of tone, colour and form. His still life reveals itself slowly, as the objects gradually emerge from subtly toned backgrounds. Hans primes his canvases with a brownish pigment, sometimes tinted with red, green or orange. This gives him a neutral background to paint on. Hans looks at the world as if he is seeing it for the first time. The intensity of his vision focuses on the beauty of the everyday objects that surround us - a beauty that we take for granted as we are often too close to see it. He believes that there is hidden character on the charred surface of the instruments of a cobbler in Chandni Chawk, or a jewel-like radiance in the crystal clarity of a coffee mug. Like all good art his paintings open our eyes and help us see things afresh.