The Toothless Times, a Sarban Chowdhury Solo Exhibition
Date: 13th Feb. - 8th March, 2025
Sarban Chowdhury’s art presents a visceral understanding of our contemporary world, through the exploration of a wide range of subjects pertaining to personal and collective experience. Fluent in the language of ceramic sculpture as well as painting, he explores form and surface, pushing the limits of the medium through a deliberate layering of constituted and invented meanings. He employs text and visual metaphors in order to extend his satirical commentary on the status of society and the environment, investigating human behaviour within these scenarios. He captures the mundane and complex, often through an autobiographical lens; his worldview embraces death and decay, beauty and vulnerability, anxiety and alienation, acceptance and resilience as they flow with a stream of consciousness through his creations, inviting viewers to become witness to the contradictions of life through his work.
- Text by Lina Vincent
"The Toothless Times" is my exhibition of works inspired by the current state of our society, where “toothless” serves as a metaphor for something that lacks the ability to bite or exert control. My works span various mediums, from ceramics to drawings on paper, depicting a period in which laws, rules, or regulations are essentially impotent—lacking the power to enforce the truth, much like a “toothless” dog that cannot bite. This signifies a lack of real consequences for actions.
Symbolically, teeth represent power, strength, appearance, and the ability to consume. A person without teeth struggles to pronounce certain sounds clearly, as teeth play a crucial role in forming speech by interacting with the tongue and lips. This can lead to difficulties with articulation, making speech sound vague or slurred.
I draw inspiration from the nuances and incidents occurring within our society, carefully examining, analyzing, and depicting them through my chosen mediums. My work reflects my experiences and personal perspective in an ironic and satirical manner.
- Text by Sarban Chowdhury
