Untitled (Tribal Abstract) 1982

Jagdish Swaminathan made this painting employing earth tones and primal imagery. He seems to have mixed his own paints, achieving a matte, slightly coarse consistency. The material itself—perhaps a combination of pigment and binder—plays a critical role here. Looking closely, you can see how Swaminathan has worked with a direct, hands-on approach; the paint has a tactile quality, as though it's been layered and textured with a palette knife or even fingers. The central square, bisected by dark intersecting lines, contains symbols rendered in earthy reds, blacks, and browns. These shapes remind us of ancient petroglyphs. Swaminathan was interested in non-Western art, and challenged the dominance of European modernism. He rejected the slickness of industrial production, and instead, created an aesthetic rooted in indigenous traditions and materials. In doing so, Swaminathan insisted on the value of vernacular creativity. The rawness of the marks, and the simplicity of the materials, all contribute to its powerful, elemental presence.