Dumped—Mayank Chhaya
When you are self-employed the way I am, everyday is a Monday and every morning has Monday morning blues. So today is no different notwithstanding that it is indeed Monday. Speaking of Monday morning blues I remembered this painting of mine titled ‘Dumped’. It is done on a cardboard box that was destined for trash. The corrugation or ridges in the box offered interesting possibilities in the way the paint might spread.
It was perhaps the fact that I had picked up the box about to be trashed that prompted me to paint a figure—very likely a man—swaddled in white like an astronaut mummy and dumped between a row of dumpsters by a fence. I like this work not because it has some great artistic merit but because it is not derivative. The orange glow behind the blue fence could be either the sun rising or setting or it could also be from a dumpster fire. I don’t know which.
The astronaut mummy’s fate remains unknown even though I kept hoping that the person inside might suddenly emerge after tearing through the tightly wrapped shroud. I looked at the painting this morning and found that there has been no movement whatsoever in the astronaut mummy. The day that happens will also be the day when all my morning blues will end.