Lot 54

“When I paint people – I also establish a certain relationship with them. As a member of our society it becomes natural. It serves multiple purposes – on the one hand, we are creatively engaged in our artwork, and on the other hand, we reaffirm our relationship with people.” (Jogen Chowdhury in R Siva Kumar, Jogen Chowdhury – Enigmatic Visions, Glenbarra Art Museum, 2005, p. 76)

In this raw portrait of family life, Chowdhury explores... “When I paint people – I also establish a certain relationship with them. As a member of our society it becomes natural. It serves multiple purposes – on the one hand, we are creatively engaged in our artwork, and on the other hand, we reaffirm our relationship with people.” (Jogen Chowdhury in R Siva Kumar, Jogen Chowdhury – Enigmatic Visions, Glenbarra Art Museum, 2005, p. 76)

In this raw portrait of family life, Chowdhury explores the relationship between two old women, two old men and a dog. He highlights both the solitary way in which each member involved in this dynamic seems to bide their time as well as the opportunities they have in each other to transcend their insularity. Meticulously rendering each character’s stance and bearing as authentically as possible, the artist also brings to the viewer’s attention in this work the unique physical and postural characteristics of Indian men and women. “Jogen does not construct his figures like a builder with lumps of flesh or hew it out like a carver all in one piece. Like women crocheting apparels, he knits them into shape – squiggle by squiggle – interlocked into quivering, heaving, criss-crossed surfaces.” (R Siva Kumar, Jogen Chowdhury – Enigmatic Visions, Glenbarra Art Museum, 2005, p. 9)

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