Jai Zharotia
Indian, 1945–2021
Jai Zharotia has experimented in multiple mediums: drawings, gouche on paper, etchings, lithographs, artist books, terracottas and acrylics on canvas and paper. Notably influenced by Jean Miro, Kandinsky and Paul Klee, Zharotia’s works are spontaneous, creative and energetic in an attempt to capture the quick of life. Responding with wit and irony to social and political events, Jai has created a limitless fantasy world populated with clowns, tricksters and acrobats - characters who take on an absurd world through mockery and humor. His characters find solace in communing with the animal rather than the human world. Jai favors the horse, and in his recent series Equestrian Rhapsody, 2019, man and horse playfully negotiate a bond. In 2016, Zharotia’s series, Chaos, Mischief-Order, Harmony saw him explode as a vivid colorist embracing large canvasses after years of working within a relatively small format and a largely within a monochromatic palette. In 2018 Jai created a brilliant artist’s book in Limited Edition of thirty acrylic works inspired by Luqman Ali, a character created by the well-known Hindi poet and novelist Soumitra Mohan.
Submitted by Art Heritage


