Works by artist Jatin Das will be on display at CIMA Gallery. Picture by Aranya Sen

Human figures come alive in the paintings of Jatin Das. They have the rhythm and often the dynamism of sculptures that adorn the glorious temples of Orissa. Large areas of his canvases are painted over with bright reds, yellows and oranges and matt greens and ochre.

His dextrous lines capture the fluid movements of the human body and this charges up his works with kinetic energy. Even when his works have a decorative touch, as in his paintings of beauties with high breasts, the undulating lines of drapery are suggestive of motion.

Das, who is exhibiting his works after a gap of 20 years in Calcutta at CIMA Gallery, is in town for the opening on Friday evening. “I have done thousands of sketches of temple sculptures. Wherever in the world I go, I draw. Even in a hotel, I set up a table and draw,” says the artist, who was born in Mayurbhanj district in Orissa in 1941 but has lived in Mumbai and Delhi for years.

Das says he never looks at his paintings and never displays them at home. Yet, he does declare that his paintings are about the human predicament, and his “lonely” and “lonesome” figures are not engaged in any “day-to-day activity”. To Das, “art” is a work like any other, and he does not need to feel inspired to paint.

Das’s watercolours, particularly the ones in which stark grey figures confront each other, try to exert superhuman force or seemingly occupy a huge space, like the gyani or wise man, are wonderful examples of the economy of paint and lines without being reductive. In his conte drawings, he goes even further and builds up the musculature of the male nudes by executing a few telling strokes. Das does not hesitate to distort the human figure to depict the essence of action.

Yet when he draws comely maidens holding flowers, his lines flow with lyrical grace.

Das, who has a phenomenal collection of about 6,000 fans, says a lady friend was once feeling despondent and he tried to raise her spirits by stirring the stale air. And that is how his collection began.