The Body Never Lies

Three years ago a young Baroda art student named Chandramohan came to national attention in a freedom of expression row that caused India’s art community to rally to his defence. Waswo X. Waswo reports from Thailand on the first solo exhibition of the printmaker who was at the epicentre of the storm.

There was some irony in the fact that Srilamantula Chandramohan’s first solo exhibition was forced to close its doors due to political unrest. The streets of Bangkok fell into chaos just days after the exhibition’s opening, with fights between ‘Red Shirt,’ protestors and Thailand’s military resulting in the shut down of much of the city’s centre. This time, unlike at Baroda, the politics that interfered with exhibiting Chandramohan’s work had nothing to do with the artwork itself.

Chandramohan is, of course, the young printmaker whose name has become synonymous with the closing of the post-graduate examination exhibition at the Faculty of Fine Arts in May of 2007. The case has become so well-known that it may not bear repeating. Suffice it to say that both a representative of Baroda’s Methodist Church and also members of the local BJP/VJP deemed several of the artist’s works offensive. The closing of the exhibition, charge-sheeting of the artist and confiscation of his work sparked nationwide outrage in the art community. The greatly esteemed Dean Dr. Shivaji K. Panikkar, who refused to prohibit a student-organised protest exhibition of photographs taken from Khajuraho, was suspended indefinitely. He was also barred from the MSU campus, a condition that remains to this day.

With these facts in mind, I was well aware that I approached the exhibition ‘The Body Never Lies,’ (held at Serindia Gallery from 6^th May until 6^th June) with two obvious biases. One, I am a collector of prints, with a distinct partiality to woodcuts and etchings. Two, I am liberal defender of free speech and uncensored art. Unless one is a conspiracy theorist who subscribes to the idea that the “rent a riot” exposé of Ram Sena chief Pramod Mutalik can be connected to the events in Baroda three years before (a very unlikely scenario), it seems quite obvious that Chandramohan has been a victim of intolerance and petty politics, to say the least.

But strangely, quite contrary to what would normally be my biases, I approached Serindia Gallery with low expectations. The media flurry about the case, with its lack of reproduction of the artist’s work, caused me to assume that the whole incident had revolved around issues of free expression rather than a particularly talented artist. Very little was known about Chandramohan before the scandal, and few articles, if any, took the time to point out the aesthetic merit in his work. So to find powerful, thoughtful, and technically superb prints on Serindia’s wall was a complete surprise.

Chandramohan creates his prints with letterpress ink hand-rolled on carved pieces of plywood. Using the ‘one block’ method, the artist carves and re-carves the plywood with each successive application of ink. Edition size is thus necessarily determined before the application of the first colour, and once an edition is complete reprinting is impossible. The fact that the artist was born into a family of carpenters is evident in his obvious appreciation and subtle use of wood’s grains and textures. Even the single etching in the exhibition, ‘Mask,’ is in fact a combo-print that again utilised woodcut, a process that further enhances it.

As a colourist, the artist veers dangerously towards the decorative but never quite crosses the line. Odd combinations of yellows, greens, and orange find unexpected harmonies and work to convince us of the artist’s sincerity. Indeed, Chandramohan’s chordal arrangements of hues are quite masterful. Seductive as these colours are, it is the imagery itself that inevitably proves confrontational and demands a response.

The premise of this show was the innocence and naturalness of the human body. From the artist’s early monochromatic ‘Beautiful Man and Beautiful Woman,’ to the culminating epicenter of the exhibition, the mammoth triptych ‘An Expression of Grief,’ the viewer is asked to stare resolutely and appreciatively at the naked human torso. Woodcuts such as ‘The Beautiful Vexation – II,’ and ‘The Beautiful Vexation – III’ indulge in outright sensuality. Other images stress the body’s fragility and innocence. Only one, ‘Gratification’ (which happens to also be one of only two depictions of the female form) hints at any sleaziness that would contradict purity.

Accompanying notes to this exhibition tell us that the artist went through a period of self-examination after his arrest in Baroda. The result was a series of woodcuts titled ‘Remorse.’ In this series, the artist is said to go from a tortured depiction of the naked male body to images of the same body adorned with men’s briefs. The briefs are labelled ‘remorse,’ and it is impossible not to find a bit of cynicism and even mockery in the word. The exhibition notes also imply that the large triptych ‘An Expression of Grief,’ is the artist’s dramatic resolution to his self-reflection…a bold statement that refuses self-censorship, proclaims the beauty of the body, and asks us to confront our own sexual hang-ups.

In the end, this becomes the one problem with the exhibition. In spite of Chandramohan’s obvious gifts as a printmaker, and the power of his imagery, we are asked to recognise something more. Printed materials unfailingly remind us of the Baroda scandal, and ask us to believe this exhibition represents an unflinchingly brave statement by the artist. But Chandramohan was never charged with obscenity, and naked depictions of the body were secondary to what fermented censorship at the Faculty of Fine Arts. Chandramohan was charged with offending religious sentiments, a punishable crime according to India’s Constitution. In the context of this history, it is hard to perceive the exhibited work as a brave reaffirmation of artistic freedom when in fact there is little that could be construed as irreligious. In this respect, Chandramohan seemed to be playing it safe.

True, his ‘Self Portrait’ from 2006 was on display, a work in which the artist is seen fondling himself while emerging from a toilet. The head of a woman and an apparent Jesus emerge cryptically from behind, as if this self-portrait is a triple-headed god. We are told the woodcut refers to the artist’s somewhat Tantric belief that sexual euphoria can lead to heightened and androgynous spiritual awareness. Rising from a toilet is meant to symbolise rebirth from decay. ‘Self Portrait,’ is a work that stemmed from Chandramohan’s Baroda days, and in it we detect the iconoclasm that landed the young artist in trouble with the law. But further explorations of religious-themed ideas are noticeably absent from the later work.

The aforementioned ‘Mask,’ is certainly a play upon the imagery of crucifixion, suffering and martyrdom. Unlike many of Chandramohan’s images, we cannot interpret the outstretched arms of ‘Mask,’ as indicating openness, surrender, or celebration. The hanging position of the body, with drooping head, is unmistakably taken from Christian imagery. It is possible to see this work as yet another self-portrait, the background of vague erotic play and the frightening toothed mask adding an edginess that the previous ‘Self Portrait’ lacks.

‘The Body Never Lies,’ was an amazingly strong and coherent exhibition for a young artist’s first solo, and I am certain that Chandramohan’s talent will propel him beyond the momentary fame of scandal. Perhaps when Indian authorities loosen their grip (the artist was denied a passport to attend his own opening) he will once again find the courage to delve into religious imagery. Or perhaps he has made an artistic choice to abandon it for good. Whatever be the case, his unashamed meditations on the naturalness of the human body, crafted with intelligence and skill, are more than enough to hold our attentions.

(Waswo X.Waswo makes his home in Udaipur, Rajastan, where he has been pursuing collaborative work with various local artists. He can be reached via email at: waswoxwaswo@yahoo.com)