Jitish Kallat b. 1974
Echo Verse, 2022
Mixed media on linen
Diptych:
74 x 120 in
188 x 304.8 cm
74 x 120 in
188 x 304.8 cm
Copyright The Artist
Kallat’s large paintings Echo Verse derive their form from various projections of the Earth. The paintings are organised through a gradual transmutation of imagery evolving from a keen observation of...
Kallat’s large paintings Echo Verse derive their form from various projections of the Earth. The paintings are organised through a gradual transmutation of imagery evolving from a keen observation of nature and its changing patterns. With a hand-drawn graph intricately segmenting the entire surface, the works begin as an unstable, cross-sectional grid that opens up the globe on a flat plane. In place of planetary geography the paintings assemble signs and speculations, at once evoking botanical, sub-oceanic, celestial, and geological formations. Painterly gestures are initiated through controlled interactions of pigment with air and water, alternating moments of hydration and dehydration, rehearsing ‘longue duree’ geological phenomenon in compressed form and time. The paintings are exploratory abstractions that at once amalgamate the outer and inner worlds, bringing forth forms that suggest signatures of growth and entropy.