Note: Dimensions listed are for both panels.
Each panel measures: 60 x 45 inches/152.4 cm x 228.6 cm.
This work is unframed and in excellent condition.
This large-scale two panel painting is a visual and conceptual tour-de force by famed Contemporary Indian artist Chittrovanu Mazumdar. The simple palette of red, white and black paint is used here to create a visual and text-based narrative that is intense, subversive and incredibly powerful. The first panel depicts an up-close detail of the trigger and muzzle of a gun in silhouette, the second offers a portrait of a woman's face painted in black and white realist manner, clearly in the throes of intense emotion, biting down sensually upon the finger in her open mouth. The diptych features rows of sexually explicit text at various sizes as if sourced from various letters or novels, yet the attempt to follow the narrative is prohibited, as the sentences are never finished-- a description, a thought, a moment in time never fulfilled. These textual elements fuel the visual intensity of the work and together create exciting psychological tension, as well as the feelings of power, aggression, longing and desire that is the signature of the artist.
Brutally confronting the viewer with words and figures, Mazumdar's paintings speak to conflicting beliefs and illicit experiences within the individual as well as within society at large. Layering meaning within his fragmented compositions, the artist compels the viewer to witness secreted allusions he’s compiled into his work, constantly teasing out unexplained interpretations.
Packed with visual intensity and emotion, the paintings of contemporary Indian artist Chittrovanu Mazumdar (B. 1956) are executed with elements of collage, layered imagery, dynamic brushstrokes, and abstracted forms. Mazumdar has exhibited internationally at top Museums and Galleries, including the National Gallery of Modern Art (Mumbai, India), Apparao Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Bose Pacia Modern (New York, NY), and Jehangir Art Gallery (Bombay, India), among others.
