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Through his body of work, Chittrovanu Mazumdar voices concerns about identity and urbanization, using fragments of figures and images of the cityscape in decline as metaphors for urban alienation and the 'culture of the individual' that he believes is fostered in metropolitan contexts. Ingeniously playing the abstract against the figurative, Mazumdar's paintings also convey his own experiences of isolation in the cities he is most familiar with... Through his body of work, Chittrovanu Mazumdar voices concerns about identity and urbanization, using fragments of figures and images of the cityscape in decline as metaphors for urban alienation and the 'culture of the individual' that he believes is fostered in metropolitan contexts. Ingeniously playing the abstract against the figurative, Mazumdar's paintings also convey his own experiences of isolation in the cities he is most familiar with - Paris and Kolkata. "The visual metaphors present in his works create an effect of disjunction and disruption. Chittrovanu achieves that effect through the swift and charged brush strokes and his aggressive handling of space. He contextualises the active experience of contradiction and paradox that one faces in this hierarchical, heterogeneous, multi-centered world" ("Chittrovanu Mazumdar", Grosvenor Gallery website, accessed May 2011).

"Inspired by the Impressionist attention to the dynamic interaction of colour, light and form, [Mazumdar's] canvases resonate with the synchronization of conflicting elements such as collage, abstraction and hyper-realist figuration. Through the use of this multi-layered imagery, his oeuvre investigates Kolkata's urban spaces, highlighting the alienation of the individual in the modern metropolis." As the artist explains, "There is nothing obvious about my paintings…either in theme or content. I don't give titles to them. The canvases have vivid splashes of colours, in which the white is completely submerged, almost like individual identities in urban cities" (Paths of Progression, Saffronart and Bodhi Art exhibition catalogue, 2005, not paginated).

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