Prints 2009

A red faced man

Date - July 2009
In the history of the practice of Indian Modern Art, from the very beginning, Santiniketan has always played a vital role. Instead of developing a space for the practice of art in Kolkata, Rbindranath Tagore established his Santiniketan in a rural Santal Palli (village of a tribal ethnic group). The reason was that he had been trying to establish an Asram (ancient Indian schooling) in a modern format, where student could live in the direct contact with nature to take education.
In my six years student life in Kolkata, I often took journey to Santiniketan whenever I got time. It always gave me a refreshment to start my art work in a fresh way.
At the time of Mayor election in Kolkata city in 2009, I was very irritated by the situation. The city was full of noise and the false promises shamelessly given by the political leaders. At the end of the day I found that people do know all about these and they also laugh behind them. Finally, I realized that I was in a city where everybody wears mask to hide their true colour.
Like most of the time I took decision to take journey to my holy place, Santiniketan, where I always find all my peace. One day very early in the morning I painted my face with the colour red and with that red face I took all through the journey. People in the bus, at the station, on the road and in the train compartment asked me a lot of questions --- all of which were more or less the same. I explained as much as I could. Some were satisfied and some found me weird. After reaching Santiniketan I washed the colour off to receive the enthusiasm which I always get from Santiniketan, and thus to welcome a new beginning.

Drawings 2009 - 1

My art always speaks about politics. Here, in my recent drawings, I want to show how politics comes on me through society. For example in the drawing hanging head by an unknown hand inside a map, I am inspired by Bombay Blast in last year Apr, 2009.

NO PRIVACY (Installation Art Work)

I did this Installation in the Annual Exhibition in my university in the year of 2009. I chose the central pillar of our art building as the space of my artwork so that the prints(eyes) I took, could be put on the cylindrical surface of the piller. I named that work NO PRIVACY because the eyes in my work could see people in any corner of the gallery.

Border Line

Date -2008 Jully,Guahati.

The day when human became concerned about his power from then on he has been trying to implement his rule on others. He built high walls to separate his territories; he drew lines to divide his lands. At the end of the day he himself was trapped in his own boundaries. The boundary that he made did not allow him to move wherever he wanted to, did not allow him to meet the people he left long days back.

In Guahati (Assam, India) I have seen People from here suffering from different political problems. The aboriginal tribal groups are often fighting with one another. They are actually fighting for their own land. Moreover, people from outside, such as Bihar, West Bengal, Bangladesh, are disliked by the native people. As a result the overall political condition is getting worse.

On the day of the performance very early in the morning, I drew a red line across the road imagining that I created two different lands by making a red border line in between. When people started crossing the line, I was asking them different questions which were very much related to the contemporary political problems of Assam. Often the voice of the common people is avoided though they are the ones who are actually going through the situation. By this work I wanted to relay those voices of the native people and what they themselves think about their Land, Government and Life.