AN UNFINISHED POEM SOLO EXHIBITION BY JOGEN CHAUDHARY 18TH DECEMBER 2020 – 6TH FEBRUARY 2021

AN UNFINISHED POEM SOLO EXHIBITION BY JOGEN CHAUDHARY 18th DECEMBER 2020 – 6th FEBRUARY 2021

An Unfinished Poem by Jogen Chowdhury’s exhibition with works made through the pandemic months of stillness reiterate what the artist has always expressed about his practice, that the distortion of the painted figure and posture is a deliberate ploy to show the complexity that exists within man and in his relationship with the environment and the world. Although the intimate portraits reverberate with sentiments universally felt, Jogen Chowdhury’s narrative belongs without doubt to Bengal and his own identity. He has been deeply impacted by the vicious attacks repeatedly on the minorities and the marginalized in our society and his deep grief finds artistic expression in these works. The recurrent theme of gruesome wounds and mangled limbs portray his agony yet again in the vividly painted images of severed fingers or that of a nude body with a gash across its torso. Disturbing yet riveting, these images are a powerful comment on the recent history of our country, visual narratives that lastingly sear the imagination of the viewer.

Chowdhury said: ‘One of the subjects that has repeatedly occurred in my paintings is the man- woman relationship and the innumerable components surrounding it. I am fascinated with the complexity, the sensitivity and dramatic element it offers.’

In conversations, the artist has spoken of how personal memories, the hardships faced as a young adult shaped his thinking and how immersive it was to lose himself throughout these difficult years in art. . Later, we saw other works, satirical compositions of Babus with Gandhi caps, images of couples engaged in intimacy, unusual still life compositions and the morning had flown by, we had many other opportunities to meet and see his works, in the studio and at exhibitions but the evocative portrait we had seen that morning has remained with me, the depth and appeal of her eyes, still vivid, in recollection.

In a departure from his usual exhibitions, Jogen Chowdhury will be showing his works virtually from December 18th,with Art Exposure, Kolkata. Unlike larger compositions these works are small format, created with consummate skill, whether they are minimalistic outlines or intensely textured figures. The paintings/drawings of man, plant and animal life may appear disengaged from any obvious context but they forge a mystical relationship within themselves, as if participants of an untold story. To quote the artist: ‘I find a vitality running through trees, flowers, creepers and leaves, and feel it acutely. Mankind, animal life and nature in the form of plant life are all bound to the rhythm of universal nature. This is a notion that has its validation in science. But it is also a notion that surfaced for the first time as a theory in the Upanishads, and reached us in the songs and writings of Rabindranath Tagore.’

The pictures depicting faces of men and women, reveal a weariness, as if the lovers of yesterday are long past their prime and their romance is now like a dried flower discovered between pages of a book of poems. The spirit of an invisible city lurks in the background, unseen but present, the brutal smoke-spewing factories, perhaps, the crowded metropolis heaving with multitudes of people trying to go through the motions of life, in the hope of a better tomorrow.

Chowdhury has often drawn inspiration from poetry and it now appears in his painted world as a frame of motifs , the lush flowers, creepers and patterns of ‘alpona’ that counters the images of the searing wounds and brutal lacerations on naked bodies, the terrible desperation in the eyes of the people. The artist is conflicted and subject to different moods as the pandemic rages across the world, there are days of dark depression when it is the ugliness and bleakness that he is drawn to, at other moments, he feels lightness.Like different pages of his calendar, like the nine ‘rasas’, the works in the suite reflect in turns the varying moods, moving from the dark to hopeful. Poetic fantasy and biting satire are two sides of the coin and seldom has the viewer observed the human form or face expressing such a wide range of emotions.

The words of Rainer Maria Rilke about the artistic process come to mind in the present context : ‘ And it is not enough to have memories. You must be able to forget them when they are many, and you must have immense patience to wait until they return. For the memories themselves are not important. Only when they have changed into our very blood, into glance and gesture, and are nameless, no longer to be distinguished from ourselves-only then can it happen that in some very rare hour the first word of a poem arises in their midst and goes forth from them.’