Howard Hodgkin /anglais - Tapa dura

:: Exhibition Review:: "The artist s richly hued paintings, inspired by India, are part of a forthcoming exhibition at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai. Joyous squiggles in vivid turquoise dance across the surface and continue on to a black, wooden frame. A pale flesh-coloured tint fills the negative spaces. A swish of colour in a Hodgkin painting is premeditated and precise, like an arrow drawn for an emotional target. To the unaccustomed eye, the miniature abstract paintings on view can appear as incomprehensible as a couple of brushstrokes on a surface, hurriedly done. To my eyes, they are the masterstrokes of a painter assured of the economy of his chosen language. Paintings that are borne of the senses have to be experienced through the senses. I don t know how my paintings come about, he says in a deep, gravelly tone. It s important to me that the process these paintings go through remain secret to them. I am not despondent in fact, I m delighted in a way only another painter of a similar disposition can be." The artist is not an abstract painter in the conventional sense. Although the paintings have the appearance of abstractions, the subjects are specific to intense memories of people, places, situations and things. India has played an important role in his work. A prodigious collector of Indian miniatures, he was fascinated with the country even before he arrived on its shores for the first time. Audiences in Mumbai will have a chance to view a concise body of the artist s works. In a joint effort with the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation and Tate of the UK, the CSMVS will hold an exhibition of 20 paintings and gouaches by the artist. What brings these works together is that they are all about India." Live Mint"

Twenty new paintings, made between 2008 and 2012, comprise this catalogue of an exhibition at Gagosian Gallery, Rome, in May 2013. Assertive compressed gestures, sweeping complex textures, a lush palette, and the dynamic interchange of light and dark are all traits of Howard Hodgkin's distinctive signature. With their maximalist gestures and saturated colours, his more intimately scaled paintings appear jewel-like, while larger works are opulent and theatrical. With incorporated frames and painted wooden supports, they operate as both objects and images.