Jogen Chowdhury: Encountered

Just like Krishna Reddy and Zarina Hashmi, artist Jogen Chowdhury at one time passed through the doors of Stanley William Hayter's prestigious Atelier 17. The English scientist/printmaker first opened the doors to this workshop and school in Paris, but later moved it to New York when World War II made living in France impossible. Hayter is credited with having a wide influence on the artists of his day. To have spent any length of time at Atelier 17 was to be pulled into an orbit of intense artistic exploration. But unlike Reddy and Hashmi, Chowdhury did not develop a lifelong involvement with prints.

Or did he?

Chowdhury went on to become one of India's best known painters, executing a stunning array of images that focused on the intimacy of the partially clothed and fully nude body. His forte has been the use of ink combined with pastels, a medium with which he explores the soft curves and angularities of contorted bodies. Integral to many of these works is the artist's well-known use of crosshatching. In fact, many would say the crosshatch has become the most recognizable feature of Chowdhury's style. He has certainly produced a lot of work without use of this technique, but his intricately crosshatched paintings are sought after by acquisitive collectors with far more determination.

The crosshatch is actually a draftsman's skill that is frequently used when creating a drypoint or an etching. Creating volume by the use of modulating light and shade, the printmaker often uses crosshatch to create the illusion of middle tonalities. Many times these crosshatchings are kept as minimal as possible, so as not to distract from the overall composition. But it seems that Chowdhury picked up the technique, amplified it, exaggerated it, and used it to great effect in his ink and pastel paintings.

Encountered is a large etching. Compared to the untitled Chowdhury etching previously posted (see July, 2009) the use of crosshatching in Encountered is obviously much more prevalent. An argument can be made that though the crosshatching in the untitled work is less, it is actually more pronounced and serves to give the image meaning. In the untitled etching the man's darkly crosshatched face seems to indicate a reddening blush which gives the image narrative tension. But I would argue that the crosshatching in Encountered is equally as meaningful. Though it barely hints at modeling form, it does lend the figure of the screaming man a corporal fleshiness that makes us feel the very heat of his skin.

The compositional device of the window frame, and the man's distance from it, brings this person directly into our presence. It is as if we have inadvertently walked into a room and caught him by surprise. But what so terrifies him?

The title Encountered might bring to mind the police encounters, both real and fake, which regularly make the headlines in India. In such stories reputed gangsters are gunned down by government authorities in what has become a controversial practice that raises all the issues of extra-judicial killings. But whether or not Chowdhury's "encounter" is a political comment or a more general take on human aggression and fear, is left for us to decide. One can only speculate what sort of scenario is actually playing out before our eyes. Chowdhury's placing of us in such close proximity to the encountered man makes us fear that perhaps we are not only spectators but participants.