Excerpt from the introductory text by Rasna Bhushan on Vivan Sundaram — Engine Oil and Charcoal: Works on Paper 1991:

'There is the appearance of a landscape and then its recession as it moves away onto the wall. Deceptive, this map, pretending to unfold and open to view the terrain. Immediately it is inscrutable in its markings. You move closer trying to look for routes, find those mountains,trees, houses that must be there: shelters. As you approach your pace is quickened by the dynamic of images propelling you in — images that plummet you towards the land. An explosion, and the territory is finally penetrated.'

Exhibition history: 'Engine Oil and Charcoal: Works on Paper,' Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda; Rabindra Bhavan and LTG Art Gallery, New Delhi; Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore and Madras; 1991-92, Illustrated catalogue.