Jitish Kallat
INDIAN CONTEMPORARY ARTST
- Born in 1974, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Lives and works in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
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UNDERSTANDING THE ARTIST
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Kallat firmly believes that growing up in what one might call middle-class Mumbai suburbia did shape his world view. He argues that more than the city, it is the embodiment of emotions the city has to offer, which beguiles him. Life, Death, Time and Endurance, constitutes the nucleus of his art. The urban claustrophobia, cultural plurality, and the socio-economic concerns of Mumbai are externalised in some of his works. Urbanization, its beneficiaries and victims, its virtues and iniquities are some of the concerns he explores. Kallat views the city streets as his real university. The overplayed emotions of the city streets capture him. However, more than the city the larger subjects encrypted within it gains precedence in Kallat’s oeuvre. He has been widely recognized for the figurative paintings that delineate the cultural dualities of Mumbai.
Kallat has expressed attentiveness to national history as he uses treasured documents of the past and pits them against the social milieu of the present. The artist hopes that the resolutions to our present conundrums could lie in the past.
He defines himself as a member of civil society, cognizing and interpreting life in his way. He documents the demolition of an illegally built slum-dwelling which was a part of his childhood to reflect on the far-reaching effects of modernization of cities which requires re-location of its dwellers due to the widening roads and pavements.
Kallat argues that the medium is just a vehicle to germinate an idea. The content determines the medium. The medium demands less consideration, it acts only as a carrier of a larger thought. Though painting remains his forte, the artist does not hesitate to explore different media and refuses to be labelled as a painter, sculptor or installation artist.
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SELECTED IMAGES
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Jitish Kallat, Aquasaurus, 2008, paint, resin, steel, 39.37 x 106.69 x 41.73 in
Jitish Kallat, Untitled (Fish), 2002, mixed media on canvas, 68.5 x 68.5 in
Jitish Kallat, Super Boy Proceed Slowly, 1998, mixed media on canvas, 67.5 x 91.5 in
Jitish Kallat, Naked Skyline - Porous Air, 2001, mixed media on canvas, 29.5 x 53.5 in
Jitish Kallat, hallucinations of a passer-by, 2012, oil on canvas, 84.02 x 120
Jitish Kallat, Artish Making Local Call, 2005, digital photographic print on vinyl, 95in high x 411in wide
Jitish Kallat, Wind Study (the hour of the day of the month of the season), 2015, burnt adhesive and graphite on Indian handmade paper, 66.9 x 44.9 in
Jitish Kallat, Syzygy, 2014, sculptures, platre pour empreintesdentairessur banc de bois-dental plaster and wood, 52 x 98.4 x 25.2 in
Jitish Kallat, Prosody of a Rising Tide, 2011-12, oil, acrylic, pencil and household gloss on canvas, Diptych, 84 x 120 in
Jitish Kallat, Epilogue (detail), 2010–2011,pigment print on archival paper, 753 prints, 11 316 x 14.3 inches each, display dimensions variable, courtesy Jitish Kallat Studio