Suman Panday

Arts Class: Wednesday

Time: 9:30 am

Part 1. CRITICAL REVIEW of Favorite Artwork

Art: Jina
Descriptive: Jina is a terrific Asian art. Its artist is unknown and is assumed to be created in
14th century. Its dimension is 24 x 20 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. It is placed at David T. Owsley Galleries
Of South Asian Art. The medium of this art is black stone. The black stone is smooth and
gives a charming appearance to the statue. The statue shows a man sitting with crossed leg on
a surface. The posture of the statue is an erect meditating posture. Hands are placed on the
laps facing upwards. There are no clothes on the body and the statue is naked. It is the
depiction of the religious teachings in Hinduism called Jainism.
Analysis phase:

The statue has a very smooth texture. It is made in black color since; it is carved on a black
stone. Medium of black stone has added the shiny appearance to the statue. The shape of the
statue is a medium sized Asian man. The artist has used the third dimension by carving on the
stone to give a perfect anatomical appearance of the human body. The art has a sense of unity,
meaning the statue seems very smooth and natural from the top till the bottom. It has a
symmetrical balance. The artist draws the attention of audience by carving a holy mark on the
bare chest, showing that the statue is of a religious person. The head of the statue is in perfect
rhythm with the carving of hairs like monk with repeated nodular shapes.

Interpretation phase:
The teaching of Jainism was started by Mahavira in 6 th centuray. It basically teaches people
to conquer over the desires and isolate one from worldly affairs and have a spiritual
connection with the supremacy, the creator. The Jina is the depiction of a spiritual person
trying to connect with the supremacy. The religious teaching believes there is a chakra behind
the chest which needs to be awakened. The ornament on the bare chest is a holy mark of the
religion showing the importance of the heart chakra. In my opinion this sculpture depicts the
custom and belief of the people of India and surrounding areas of the time at around 14 th
century. It has a very powerful message to the audiences about the spirituality.