Artist Nikhil Chopra works across several mediums such as painting, illustration, photography and performance art to explore themes of the body, identity and history. He recently presented works in a three-part exhibition with Chatterjee & Lal (C&L) in Mumbai. The gallery showed Line of Fire at their space in Colaba from January 12 - February 28, bringing together several charcoal and pastel landscape paintings by the artist. Meanwhile, the design gallery (co-owned by Mortimer Chatterjee & Tara Lal with Srila Chatterjee) 47-A in Girgaom in Mumbai showed Blackening VI: Engine No. 3157 from January 11 - 28 and hosted the durational performance Line of Fire: Live on January 10. The former comprised installation pieces centring on Blackening 3157, which is another charcoal and pastel work by Chopra. Mortimer Chatterjee joined STIR in an interview to discuss the charcoal work Blackening 3157, along with the artist’s other intriguing landscape works.

An understanding of Chopra's wider practice is essential before unravelling Blackening 3157 . The contemporary artist spent many years contemplating lush landscapes before creating this depiction of a man relaxing and casually assessing his scorched environment. Certainly, this signals a shift in the artist’s preoccupations, which Chatterjee acknowledges. "The title of the exhibition—Line of Fire—provides an entry point into the works. Whilst the landscapes still retain a strong sense of the artist’s longstanding interest in the idyllic, often with reference to the notion of the ‘sublime’ as depicted in the painting, many are now interrupted by moments of disruption caused by man-made or natural events. This may well be in response to the state of the world as we find it in the contemporary context,” he tells STIR.

While Chopra seems to be concerned with our current state of affairs, he does not depict his worries directly, instead choosing to hint at an underlying darkness sitting beneath the tranquillity. This approach lends itself towards layered interpretations that build a sense of unease in the viewer gradually. In Line of Fire: II, the beach that Chopra places us in is scenic but sits under an ominous sky that clashes with a simplistic interpretation of the painting. This feeling of tension Chopra masterfully creates typifies the rest of the works on view in Line of Fire.

Chatterjee comments on Line of Fire II, telling us “...a sense of unease in the painting may well be evoked by the mythologies about what lurks under the surface of water bodies. The brooding clouds in the piece certainly work to amplify this sense of unease.” As he explains, Chopra is also interested in what lurks under the surface of our present, which he excavates by studying historical traumas written onto landscapes and environments.

...a sense of unease in the painting may well be evoked by the mythologies about what lurks under the surface… – Mortimer Chatterjee, Co-founder, Chatterjee & Lal

Chopra also enthralled audiences in his live performance at 47-A, donning a metallic costume and drawing landscapes on the gallery’s glass facade. The performance saw the Indian artist develop his work while a soundscape filled the space with natural and unnatural sounds. Winds gushed and birds chirped and were intermittently interrupted by gunshots and the screech of aeroplanes. As was the case with Chopra’s paintings, the sense of discomfort grew gradually at 47-A. The artist’s instrument of choice—lipstick—typically contains heavy metals such as aluminium, cadmium and chromium which can be quite toxic if they enter the body. Chopra’s decision to use lipstick instead of his usual charcoal or pastel was taken to comment on the historical buildup of “toxic histories and ecological contamination” across the earth’s natural environments, as curator and writer Mario D’Souza writes in a press release. The durational performance, along with the larger exhibition it is a part of, provided audiences with cause to reassess our relationship with the planet, and to ponder the extent of toxicity, both literal and metaphorical, that it now carries.

Nikhil Chopra's Line of Fire was shown at Chatterjee & Lal from January 12-February 28, while 47-A showed Blackening VI: Engine No. 3157 from January 11-28 and Line of Fire: Live on January 10.