Two Hands
 Meena Alexander
November 1974
 

Right hand, cut from rough sand 
stone, enfolding line within line. Bright
of the dark blood sings in the palm 
sculpts rocks to 
alabaster

But hand the sun shines 
through. It harbours light.
The maker's palms are cut
by waves, his fingers
blocked in black
granite.

Fierce hands, his hands are steel
both right & left. An instant
 they rest on the frames edge.
the circle is done. Dry
blood cant hold bright

Tippling from outstretched palms
into the mothering open.Time's
dark block won't tarnish
coarsen or flake: frail
hands hard with light.
Two diamonds.

S.A. KRISHNAN,
Art Critic Statesman 
New Delhi'74

Jatin‘s single preoccupation is with the human figure. 
It is his major obsession, which consumes him totally and 
directs his irrepressible creative energies. These human 
statements are enormously expressive but perhaps
without illustrating any particular aspect of the human situation. And yet these vital, monumental forms loom larger than life in Jatin's paintings and have a significance which is both positive and inevitable. 
There is an unmistakable sense of challenge, which is more easily perceived than described, and an impassioned plea for humanity which is highly relevant to the current times. Jatin handles his theme with an almost poetic intensity. 
Yet, there is not the slightest touch of the romantic or the
sentimental in any of Jatin's work. The concept of the figure and the situation is unambiguous. The stoicism, resignation and the hurling challenge suggested by these men and women that fit across Jatin's paintings are, beyond doubt, the result of a total involvement and awareness of man. The emergent image,
is, therefore, vital and of an archetypal order. 
Jatin's characters are of a gargantuan proportion and come in to being convulsively, dynamic, demanding and determined.

The line, which is Jatin's forte, does almost everything 
in his paintings. it is the life breath of his drawings. That he is able to sustain its supremacy along with his massive concept of colour is a testimony to his redoubtable gift of the line. His palette which consists of strong reds, green, yellow, orange and blue,with a decisive recourse to black, is rather harsh. But the resultant juxtaposition contributes to rather than deters the pervasive 
dynamism of Jatin's work. The brushwork is vigorous 
and pulsates with energy. There is a remarkable continuity that links Jatin's paintings; but each of his paintings has its 
own specific raison d'être. Analysis can help only upto a point. But it cannot wholly fathom the unpredictable and subliminal regions. 

This suspense, this mystery makes Jatin's work all the more absorbing.