The Creative Force Behind Our First Magazine Cover: Roshan Chhabria

Roshan Chhabria’s practice has its root directly or indirectly from his life and his experiences of being born and brought up in a middle-class Sindhi family. Confronted with constant expectations, personal and familiar aspirations, sensibilities and concerns that are inbuilt in his ways of thinking. Stemming from this, over the past few years, ‘middle-class’ has become an adjective for Roshan’s process, and his choice of mediums and forms; observed through ‘middle-class eyes’ and working around Kitschy and borderline garish sensibility to portray the subject. Humour and double meanings are inherent, but most often the light-hearted portrayal is laced with the constant reservation and doubt Roshan has about his own life decisions. The use of text both found and written by him, as well as the utilization of a ‘peculiar’ and questionable aesthetics also become a route to  question the notion of the ‘good’; misspellings and inconsistent conjugation’ positioning Roshan right at the knife’s edge between two worlds.

The artist lives and works in AQ Priyasri’ studio Baroda, studied Fine arts from MS University with Gold Medal, Represented by Sakshi Gallery Mumbai.

Roshan did 2 solo, one with Maskara gallery 2013 and another with Sakshi gallery 2024 and participated in various group shows national and international and various residencies and he got a Gujarat lalit kala award and Nasreen Mohmaddi award.

About the cover art 

The disappearing culture of circus and magic shows is the basic idea of this work and in my work lots of references from kitsch hand painted circus posters and typo and in India we have such a great magician like PC Sorcar, O.P. Sharma, k Lal etc.