Jatin’s single preoccupation is with the human figure. It is his major obsession, which consumes him totally and directs his irrepressible creative energies. These human statements are enormously expressive but perhaps without illustrating any particular aspect of the human situation. And yet these vital, monumental forms loom larger than life in Jatin’s paintings. And have a significance which is both positive and inevitable. There is an unmistakable sense of challenge, which is more easily perceived than described, and an impassioned plea for humanity which is highly relevant to the current times. Jatin handles his theme with an almost poetic intensity. Yet, there is not the slightest touch of the romantic or the sentimental in any of Jatin’s work. The concept of the figure and the situation is unambiguous. The stoicism, resignation and the hurling challenge suggested by these men and women that fit across Jatin’s paintings are, beyond doubt, the result of a total involvement and awareness of man. The emergent image, is, therefore, vital and of an archetypal order. Jatin’s characters are of a gargantuan proportion and come in to being convulsively, dynamic, demanding, and determined.
The line, which is Jatin’s forte, does almost everything in his paintings. It is the lifebreath of his drawings. That he is able to sustain its supremacy along with his massive concept of colour is a testimony to his redoubtable gift of the line. His palette which consists of strong reds, green, yellow, orange and blue with a decisive recourse to black, is rather harsh. But the resultant juxtaposition contributes to rather than deter the pervasive dynamism of Jatin’s work. The brushwork is vigorous and pulsates with energy. There is a remarkable continuity that links Jatin’s paintings; but each of his paintings has its own specific raison d’etre. Analysis can help only up to a point. But it cannot wholly fathom the unpredictable and subliminal regions. This suspense, this mystery makes Jatin’s work all the more absorbing.
SA Krishnan, Art Critic Statesman
New Delhi, 1974