Chawan, Kashinath
India, c. 1950
Born in Pune (India), Kashinath Chawan creates his drawings by using ballpoint pens on ripped up shoe boxes or pieces of used paper that he finds on the street. He neither prepares sketches nor needs preliminary drawings. The first lines of his drawings are fine and imprecise. He then repeatedly draws small lines, one upon the other, so that thick lines ultimately appear. This technique allows him to realise sophisticated yet playful graphic forms and imparts his figures with a gentle, mysterious aura. Chawan’s family is in the shoe business, in which he has worked since he was fifteen years old. He dedicates himself to his drawings during the quiet hours of the afternoon. His work is inspired by Hindu deities, by the Mahabharata and the Ramayana—two Indian epic poems—and by Bollywood stars.
