FREEDOM IN ART: JITENDRA THORAT
Jitendra Thorat, Down The Rabbit Hole, 2017, Mixed Media, 60.96*60.96 cm
Jitendra Thorat’s works are a warm touch when we understand the thought behind his art and sculptures. There is a deep sense of perspective driven by the images of fauna and birds sharing bodies and minds with the frames of women, or the headspace of all those who look and perceive women crossing us every day, the dance of the fabric with both neutral and bold colours. We seek an understanding into the soul of the artist’s work as it speaks about class barriers, and the complete vanishing half of it with notions that need repair. The customary use of white fabric, neutral colours and animals are novel elements of his art collection. Art often reeks of the thoughts: Freedom, Fraternity, Far-Fetched Ideas of growth. Thorat’s art, however, takes us through a process that starts much before this, in the purity of our mind and the strength it takes to speak it.
The world of artist, painter and sculptor, Jitendra Thorat revolves around a set of ideas. In his childhood, symbols of animals that found their way in his drawings would often inspire him. It was early in his life that he understood his passion and proclivity towards art and sculpting. He works as a farmer in the fields of Girim, Pune. His status as an artist finds stimulation in the clean air, and his surroundings, nature. And although he is a traditionally brought up Indian who absorbs his country’s colours every day, his art reflects modernity and varying vision. He is a gifted artist whose work orbits around the purity of women as it thunders through his art, reflecting this idea of a person’s life in the palm of their own hands. He believes it is for them to acknowledge whether to let it fly, or lose it, then gain it once again. His motifs contain ideas of legends, divided bodies representing not just external form, but thought. He believes in an elated world where negativity based on genders, class, caste or creed are the evils that are within our reach, and yet, we struggle to catch them as though we are not part of this global dilemma.
In his use of tea bags that are a simple, yet unique response, he ponders upon his experiences as a traveller where he has witnessed people sipping tea with bags of tea leaves that dissolve in water. Within the same local train, when he was witness to incidents of lewd remarks attacking an entire set of women, he was obligated to envision it as part of his artistic technique. Thorat does not prefer to label himself as a rebel. For him, acts of rebellion are seemingly so because they fight for a right as basic as life itself. His experiences of the world at a tender age have ascertained his strong perspective into the pressures of the world that need to be shattered as long as one keeps goodwill and entity as principal partners. We deem ourselves art lovers as we hover our eyes through his collection. And as we reach the last bit of understanding of his views bleeding on his canvases, we can be kindred by his approach, technique and emotion into a layered world we all know of and can comprehend with each experience forming a differently hued line in our hearts.
Jitendra Thorat, Liberty and Ties, 2020, Mixed Media, 60.96*60.96 cm
“The artistic merger of a female figure with its latter half as a horse that deliberates the idea of women and complete freedom is what I know up close the problems that women and people face in their otherwise skillful lives, and I wish to dedicate a load of the art towards the concept of empowerment. The paintings needed less effort following this as they came to him, and not the other way around,” says Thorat.
With his view of the social systems that surrounded him, he created an art installation in his college that garnered a sense of attention he hadn’t known before. His education caters itself to his art and artistic liberation. He often speaks of his village and its bounty of nature, and yet, he understands that the people in his home village comprehend little of his professional endeavours and views. As part of communication, he aims to deliver his hidden messages to all the admirers of his art. He wishes to make his points about women’s issues to be heard, and a need to address them openly. Thorat turns his face and thinks about it when we speak about fame, however, his ideas of art are more inclined towards sending out his ideals to the world along with a vent of feelings that people can appreciate, admire and address as they learn more about the artwork. He often spreads the intricate effort over a white fabric, signifying the union of purity. As his installation goes on, we discover an exceptional choice of tea bags. The artist observes them as a negative perception of addiction towards women that must turn to appreciation before we take on to newer generations. In his belief system, liberation is a right we all deserve, and is a duty of our citizens to provide each other with this sense of openness. Society often breaks class barriers as it grows, and grinds its designs, or as it develops beauty in its bag. Our artist trusts in the concept of bringing oneself to think with the other’s cap and attempting to absolve them of their most basic complications in this social world. His philosophies steadily work towards the notions of intrinsic growth, impossible without a sense of profound thought. The art appears as collectible as it ranges from one pillar to the other with its flow.
Jitendra Thorat, Secret Will, 2020, Mixed Media, 60.96*60.96 cm
The practice of the colour blue is prevalent in the art, as it arrays from a cerulean to dark turquoise and indigo. The focus on birds and winged figures is a recurring theme, along with the soulful, soft use of tints on paper and cloth. Technique glides across all art as it furnishes a way into a launch of emotions that burst as we distinguish the melodies and refrain from the pieces of art. It takes Jitendra Thorat about a month to create a set of three paintings or sculptures as he works on more projects than one at a time. His art pieces complement each other like a gorgeously planned puzzle.
Jitendra Thorat, Freedom, 2020, Mixed Media, 60.96*60.96 cm
The art debates and deliberates just as it beautifies and boons in front of our eyes, in our minds and soulfully, our hearts.
We can choose to watch the exquisiteness unfold at first sight, or dive in to put the pieces together, one at a time.