Artist Jatin Das, who is in the city for his exhibition of miniature format artworks, on hard work being integral to the creative process and why India might become a generation of prototypes in the next decade
Artist Jatin Das, who is in the city for his exhibition of miniature format artworks, on hard work being integral to the creative process and why India might become a generation of prototypes in the next decade
Artist Jatin Das is seated on a sofa inside the interior room of Gallery Art & Soul, and is talking animatedly into his mobile phone. The snatches from his conversation that I do manage to catch will soon have more bearing on our meeting than I imagine. 
Sagitario by Jatin Das, oil on canvas, 21 inch copy
"I've forgotten the new name of the hotel we're staying at," he says to the caller, going on to assure him or her that he doesn't typically stay in hotels on trips to the city where he spent his "formative years". "This time, Nandita asked me to stay with her." Nandita is actress Nandita Das, who has accompanied "dad" to his first showing in the city in four years.
He later suggests we sit outside on the gallery's steps for our chat, so he can have a cigarette. And then jovially calls for "Reeta aunty" and requests that she arrange for some chai-coffee. Ruing the fact that "there are no critics today" he decides that the topic of our conversation will be the city.
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Time travel
Das left his hometown, Mayurbhanj in Orissa, a place he describes as "a genuine model town" at the age of 17 for the lights of a "big, cosmopolitan city". "Then, Bombay was everybody's city. Today, it's a provincial town," he says with a wry smile.
Of the decade that Das would spend in the city, five years would be spent pursuing his degree from the JJ School of Art, where he studied under SB Palsikar. "These days, everybody is studying commerce or IT, eventually all we'll have will be millions of protoypes."
Das reminisces about a time when scientists, thinkers, poets and artists got together to discuss new ideas, new ways of doing things, and of evenings spent inside the Samovar Caf ufffd at the Jehangir Art Gallery, reading poetry.
"A lot of young artists today are in a rush. Nobody wants to mature by hard work. To be an artist, you have to first learn, then unlearn, and then, manodharma," he says, using the term to describe improvisation in music to possibly allude to 'divine inspiration'.
He is keen, however, that his dismay not be misinterpreted as cynicism. "This is a great country with a great cultural fabric. The key to our development lies in our villages, as Gandhi advocated. Else, 10 to 15 years from now, we will have no crafts, no handlooms, and everybody will eat plastic toys."
Art to art
Das talks about how 52 years of his life have "slipped out of hand" in his devotion to his craft, "To be in any form of creativity is a lone, never-ending journey. One life is not enough for a creative person," he says.
The current exhibition titled Hand-Held Space will showcase a collection of his small works, oil on canvas, which the artist says have been collected over 10 to 12 years. "What I am showing is 10% of what's in my studio," he says, adding, "I live on the sale of my paintings, but I don't paint for selling.
At The Museum Gallery, 159/61 MG Road, Kala Ghoda, FROM Today, 6.30 pm onwards, till December 5; CALL 22844484Show continues at Gallery Art & Soul, 1, Madhuli, Shivsagar Estate, Worli. FROM December 6 till January 2; Call 24965798
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