FIGURES IN MOTION

OILS,WATERCOLOURS & DRAWINGS

I am 76. I have gone grey and bald a long time ago, with stress and angst, in and around. In my 40s, 50s and 60s, I wrote, I am a painter wanting to be an artist; the journey is still on. At 17, I came to JJ in Bombay from Mayurbhanj. Though I spent just 11 years in Bombay and now in Delhi, Bombay is home and I reminisce every moment.

I draw with conte, watercolour, ink and in oils. Sometimes, I work with acrylic for vengeance, and tame it like a wild horse. My works are not narrative, without any embellishment of time and place, they are just bare figures. They have no reference but all the body language is born here, in my context. I don’t know my work. My figures in motion are simply earth bodies, free, lone.

Lot of my old friends are gone, and the new I don’t know. I am influenced by everything in the world, but no one in particular. I am exhibiting after a long time, everywhere; this is the tip of the iceberg.
Jatin Das.