He was one of the most amazing students of the batch of 1957 at Mumbai’s Sir J. J. School of Arts. The then 17-year-old from Orissa’s Mayurbanj district worked with such astounding dedication and commitment that he would often submit 300 sketches instead of the required 10 every semester!

Even today, Jatin Das can work with astonishing speed. Painter, muralist, sculptor, and poet, he is celebrating 40 years of his creative works with a stunning exhibition of drawings and graphics.

" It was self imposed discipline as I wanted to become one of India’s best known artists," says Das, marvelling at how time has slipped by since he was a student at the country’s premier art institute. " I am still a student. Still learning the finer nuances of art. I still get excited whenever I see great art like that in Konarak, Khajuraho and Mahabalipuram."

To mark his four decades as an artist, a retrospective exhibition of his drawings was held at Delhi’s All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society. The drawings are in ink, pencil and dry points on paper. It is a unique instance in an era where exhibitions of oil paintings are more dominant and popular.

" Is desh mein drawing ki exhibition koi nahin lagata," (In India no one puts up an exclusive exhibition of drawings) says a rueful Das, who has lectured on art in various universities all over the world.

Citing the Chitrasutra (a treatise on art) he says drawing is the essence of an artist’s work. He himself draws with pen using Indian and Chinese inks to create stark chiselled figurations of black on white. Being an ardent admirer of this neglected art form in India, he feels sorry that it does not command the same respect here as it does in other parts of the world.

" You can gauge an artist’s worth by his drawings. That is why this is such a popular art in most countries. But in India people seldom buy drawings and graphics. Here people buy only oil paintings because Indians have the mindset that anything done on canvas will last long."