Lot 1051: CHITTROVANU MAZUMDAR (B. 1956)

CHITTROVANU MAZUMDAR (B. 1956)
Untitled
signed 'C MAZUMDAR' (lower right of right panel)
oil on canvas; triptych
57 7/8 x 42¼ in. (147 x 107.3 cm.) each
57 7/8 x 126¾ in. (147 x 321.9 cm.) overall

Sotheby's, New York, 24 September 2004, lot 184

Property from a Private Collection, United States

Born in Paris in 1956 though raised in India, Chittrovanu Mazumdar held his first solo exhibition in Calcutta in 1985 and has since established himself as one of India's leading contemporary artists. By his own definition an expressionist painter, the artist's work employs layers of abstract elements slapped onto the canvas in a bold, fury of execution.

Characterized by lashings of block-like saturated color and juicily brushed forms, Untitled is simultaneously an exploration and an explosion of space on a grand scale. A triptych comprising three equally related yet independent canvases, Mazumdar has reduced the composition to its barest yet most essential elements, eradicating superfluous detail in service of the artwork. In part reminiscent of Pollock's action painting technique, he similarly glorifies the labor of the artist by emphasizing every stroke of the brush and every drip of the paint. Evoking also the tactile surfaces of Robert Rauschenberg, Mazumdar's bold striations of block-like color signal a fundamental belief in creativity, passion, political commitment and existential authenticity expressed via the work itself coupled with the method of its creation.