Lotus Girl 2008

Curator: Jahar Dasgupta's "Lotus Girl," painted in 2008, immediately strikes one with its near-monochromatic blue palette, doesn't it? Editor: Yes, the limited color range really dictates the somber, almost melancholic mood. The blue skin and the way she's surrounded by those dark lotus leaves… it’s quite striking. Curator: The choice of blue could represent any number of cultural references to purity or sadness. But the lotus itself has rich symbolism. Do you see Dasgupta using this symbolically in the way the lotus flowers sprout around the subject’s face and body? Editor: Absolutely. The figure seems almost to be emerging from, or perhaps dissolving into, the surrounding landscape. It’s interesting how the lines between the body, the water, and the lotus plants all blur, especially with that expressionistic style and acrylic medium. It’s as if he’s visually exploring some kind of spiritual transformation or maybe rebirth through his composition and attention to layering. Curator: He made a body of work from around this time centered around modernizing old tales and finding new meanings in historical images. I am not so sure that the symbolism of the blue would directly connect to established iconography, it feels to me that his figures stand in for people struggling in an era of tremendous upheaval. Editor: Well, whichever the case, it has such a visceral impact and emotional weight because it so cohesively marries color with shape and representation with suggestion. It pulls you in. Curator: Precisely, this is an early 21st century post-colonial piece about how cultural ideas are both internalized and made unique by individual artists! Editor: It gives one quite a lot to meditate on, really. I leave here intrigued, reflecting on that arresting, watery dreamscape.