Art aficionados get a peek into the world of serigraphy with Jogen Chowdhury
Dubai: Eminent artist Jogen Chowdhury will showcase a vast array of his collection of works in serigraphs at a unique exhibition in Dubai this month. The exhibition of serigraph prints, the first-of-its-kind in the region, will provide a unique opportunity to art lovers to afford works of a renowned artist like Jogen Chowdhury.
Serigraphs - the newest form of prints to be accepted as fine-art - have grown in stature as a fine-art medium in the recent past. At the exhibition, Jogen will provide an insight into his breathtaking, exquisite collection of fine-art screen prints of world-renowned paintings.
The seven-day exhibition will be held at 1X1 Art Space in Dubai from September 19, 2006. Lavesh Jagasia of The Serigraph Studio in Mumbai and Jogen will be at the Gallery and will answer queries pertaining to the works on display. The Dubai show, which is part of the select preview into Jogen's works, is also travelling to Delhi (August 2006) and London (Oct 2006).
Jogen has carved a niche with his uncanny ability to merge traditional imagery with the influences of contemporary art in a skilful blend of an urbane self-understanding in a highly focused Bengali imprint. His earlier works show a consideration to figuration that flows through his current pieces. Chowdhury insists on maintaining the necessity of a uniquely Indian approach to art, and believes that Indian contemporary art must have originality, and not give way to imitation of the west. His figuration is based on the premise that the human being does not essentially change and is always compounded from the same repertoire of humours: raga (anger), dvesha (hatred), lobha (greed) and moha (lust). In perspective, Jogen holds to the genially stoic view that most humans do not, or cannot, commit themselves to a programme of radical spiritual transformation.
Talking about serigraphy and its inherent demand, Lavesh Jagasia said: "As original art prices hit the stratosphere, art collectors were always on the lookout for alternative options. This is where serigraphy - the fine-art prints of the original works of art - came into picture. Though nascent in nature, it is growing in popularity due to the price tag; making it more accessible to the common man. This exhibition in Dubai will give a unique opportunity for art aficionados in the region a connoisseur's alternative to the 'real' thing."
He added: "The serigraph show will open the doors for the younger generation of art lovers who have aspired to own a world-renowned painting and haven't been able to afford it. These high quality, limited edition signed prints will now give them the opportunity to own a work of their favourite artist/s. The overall market demand for serigraphs is picking up across various price levels."
Commenting on the show, Ms. Malini Gulrajani at 1X1 Art Space, said: "We are privileged to host a serigraphy show by Jogen Chowdhury. The exhibition offers us a unique chance to not only view his works of art but also interact with him on the intricacies of serigraphy and the latest trends. The much-preferred serigraph printmaking medium extends to all segments of the art collector community, thus widening its resale market and thereby leading to increased returns. I am confident that art collectors in the region will cash in on this unique opportunity with Chowdhury."
With its perfect blend, Chowdhury's works of art provide a complete spectrum of the medium. To engage with Jogen's art is to draw apart the curtains that veil a poignant theatre of intimacy. The characters which inhabit his drawings and paintings are taken from life, but transmuted into allegory. In Chowdhury's frames, we are confronted by men sagging into corpulence but animated, in every fold and wrinkle, by lust. We encounter women fatigued by life's demands yet charged by a zest for life, overcoming the grey tonalities around them with a flash of almond eye, a spark of bangled wrist.
He also summons up chimeras: creatures that are part horse and part wolf, figures that are half human and half bird, each embodying some atavistic instinct towards flight, need or violence.
Jogen Chowdhury is, in the highest sense of the word, a fabulist: a storyteller. But his narratives are tightly condensed, implying rather than declaring their meaning; they compress entire social histories into a look or a movement of the hand. The anecdote as a secret, hinted at through the flirtatious, teasing or ambivalent sign, lies at the centre of Jogen's paintings. The concupiscent or estranged couple, the tonsured monk, the dreaming boy, the ageing libertine, the courtesan whose limbs have lost their tautness: Jogen's brush translates all these characters into pure gesture, a physical calligraphy of touch, gaze, wariness and sleep.
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For further information, please contact
Malini Gulrajani,
Tel: +9714-3483873;
e-mail: onexone@emirates.net.ae
© Press Release 2006
