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Well-known artist Jatin Das exhibited in New Delhi after a gap of nine years with his solo show titled ‘Earth Bodies.’ poonam goel speaks to the temperamental artist as he lays bare his thoughts on how art is viewed and his own reluctance to exhibit more often.


Knowing Jatin Das is like being on a roller coaster. He surprises you at every turn, sometimes with his utter disdain for what he calls “media debauchery”, and at other times, with his suave charm that belies both his age and his stature. So fixing up an interview between the myriad media interviews he is currently engrossed in, in the aftermath of his art outing titled ‘Earth Bodies’ after a gap of nine years, is no mean task. One has to be prepared for both a mammoth censure on media ethics and a childlike innocence that revels in being Jatinda for those who love him.

“Why didn’t you come for the opening?” he admonishes, sitting in his studio amidst the glorious paintings that were part of the show at India Habitat Centre. A stuttered apology dismissed, he gestures towards his paintings, “what do you think?”

Words, of course, can’t suffice to explain what one does. You hesitate to mention the word ‘nude’ knowing his eternal feud with the word that best describes his oeuvre ever since the start of his career, and settle down amicably into discussing his ‘bare figures’. The figures on his canvas, etched out in muscles and sharp body contours, jump out at you, some furious, some in agony or apathy, but all as expressive as their maker. Only, this time round, the strokes are fewer and the colours more vivid.

The human form continues to be the main focus of his paintings — all 66 of them, in oil, conte and watercolour — but with titles that are far more evocative. “These are my people…a figment of my imagination,” says the 67-year-old artist, “Don’t ask me what inspires me to make them, they exist all around me. There is no time or place in which they exist, so you can understand them in your own context” and, in the context of what they depict — “joy, sorrow, happiness, suffering and anguish.”

The paintings, he says, have been selected from his vast body of work done over the past five years. The continuity of his signature style, therefore, persists. Using brighter colours this time like blue, red, black, brown, ochre and yellow green, Jatin Das’s people become real because of his mastery over strokes. The bodies, in unison of twos and threes, are both expressive and meditative.

For example, ‘Purusha in Prakriti’, a 48 inch x 48 inch oil painting of a three-headed man-woman figure stands out for its fluidity of lines and symbolism. Depicting a harmonious blend of male and female energies in nature, the painting is as Jatin Das says “only one of its kind. I don’t do two similar works ever.”

Another work titled ‘Earthed’, a 60 inch x 48 inch oil on canvas of a monk-like figure, is striking because of the detail and the expression of calm repose. The fingers curve upwards like those of a dancer, while it stays rooted to the earth like a tree.

Similarly, another striking work that draws attention is titled ‘Digambar’, an oil on canvas, where in the open folds of a cloth that has gathered its colours from the sky, a figure stands, an abstract halo around him, flanked by ecru-coloured man and woman.

‘Vairagi’, ‘Birahini’, ‘Junoon’, ‘Devanartaki’ are some of the other works that are as poetic as their titles. Not surprising for an artist who draws an analogy with music for every answer and cites examples of Kumar Gandharva and Kishori Amonkar to explain how art in particular and society in general also needs role models. “We need a Gandhi today, not western sensibilities that have made our rich and diverse crafts and culture redundant.”

Jatin Das, however, refuses to explain any of his works. “There are no stories to tell,” he says. “I make one work and put it away immediately.” Even the question what he enjoys doing more, watercolours or oils, draws a Jatinesque response. “Which is better, steamed rice cooked in five minutes or a simmered biryani?”

What he is vocal about, though, is his anger at the rapidly deteriorating cultural standards. “Artists today are in too much of a hurry. There is no exchange of ideas, no involvement with each other. Which other art form allows a practitioner to become part of the market before undergoing strenuous training and internship under a guru? Art has been reduced to a commodity and auction houses have ruined the rasika culture.”

Ask him the expected about the long hiatus from a formal solo show and he quips as expectedly, “I never wanted to have an exhibition. Arranging for the mundane like catalogues, invites, posters sap so much of my energy. That’s not what an artist should be doing. But I was cajoled into doing the show by some friends.”

Significantly then, while a large body of work wallows in his studio waiting to be exhibited at yet another time, his focus at present is the Pankha museum that will display his collection of fans from the world over. “The plan is to build it in Delhi before the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The government has sanctioned a one-acre land for it and we are searching for an appropriate place,” finally smiles the self-proclaimed loner.

And that he enjoys every small moment of being alone with his art becomes evident when he swiftly draws out a sketch of an animal-woman torso as a parting gift!