There is a reason why used objects—signboards, a coal iron press, a telephone with the classic bell ringer, an aluminium measuring can, a scooter seat—find their way into visual artist Roshan Chhabria’s studio space. He is attracted to such found objects on an impulse; he invariably carries them home, despite the risk of ridicule. While he braves admonishment (“Sintex taanki kyun nahi laaye?”) at the hands of loved ones, a narrative emerges in his mind, enabling him to envision the object on his canvas, or in an installation. The object then becomes his medium for telling a truth about his own life, or the social situation around him, Chhabria writes in his Master’s thesis titled About Myself. It was a dissertation submitted in 2013 to the Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Baroda. 

Despite the passage of time, Chhabria’s enchantment with found objects remains constant. In his latest solo show, which opened at Sakshi Gallery, the Baroda-based artist presents Lipstick Stories—cute, quirky, intimate and reflective portraits of men and women leading ordinary, essentially middle-class lives. “These are vignettes of middle class existence around me, in Mumbai, Baroda or any Indian city. Of the 16 paintings in the show of varying dimensions and sizes, three revolve around lipsticks, but they set the overarching tone and tenor,” the visual artist says.