Mangled limbs. Vividly painted images of severed fingers. A nude with a gash across its torso. Jogen Chowdhury’s works have always been reflective of the agony he feels. Be it his post-Partition days in Calcutta (he was born in Faridpur, present-day Bangladesh) or his period of study in Paris, Chowdhury admits that he has always been influenced by his environment. “My paintings reflect the situations around me and are motivated by social and political injustices.
Dark is part of my psyche,” he says. Gallery Art Exposure in Kolkata is presently showcasing Chowdhury’s works made during the pandemic. Titled ‘An Unfinished Poem’, the disturbing yet riveting images are a powerful comment on the recent history of our country. An octogenarian, Chowdhury’s imagination is still largely coloured by the memory of the small village in Bangladesh with its trees and temples. Coming from a family of zamindars, indulging in the annual Durga Puja festivities, community theatre performances... the young Chowdhury would keenly observe the kumbhars (artisans) and would later use their leftover natural colours to make his paintings.