Sudip Chandra

Artist Overview

The artistic journey of painter Sudip Chandra ignited from his early impressions of life in the suburban district of Chinsurah, a Dutch colony in West Bengal. Remnants of colonial sights and imagery, coupled with the slow paced life of a semi urban setting impacted his psyche and left a strong influence in his works especially in the treatment of his subjects and the colour tones that he naturally took inclination to.

Religious rites and rituals , graphic scenes of dead bodies in lighted pyres of burning ghats and the interplay between darkness and the soft illumination of bulbs in routine life found strong reflections in Sudip’s artistic expressions and came to stay in future years as he set the trail of his artistic works. Nature, figures and forms of animal, human faces, man woman relationships, figures of deities manifested in his paintings and his sculptures in regular rhythm and pattern. "My choice of medium in paintings has been dry pastels, mostly tempera on board and my sculptures have been done in bronze and terracotta that are my preferred choice. Though life for me in the suburbs has had its share of brightness, hope and joys but my repeated use of the sombre, darker shades of blues, greys, blacks possibly emanate from a deep rooted sense of foreboding, fear or darkness that envelopes life in general. Till date I am still mystified by my own use of tones and hues, and I am reminded of those sights and scenes my eyes witnessed and continue to do so”, states Sudip. Much of the painter’s animal forms arose out of his research study and reflections of cave paintings where he feels the works emanated from a spontaneous reaction of his inner recollections and where he used colour tones in soft pink and blues keeping close to rustic hues. Frequently his animals have enlarged limbs, claws and teeth yet they seem to cohabit in close proximity with humans perhaps as a parallel imagery of the animal instinct that lingers within the human habit and instincts i. “My works come as a natural flow and I go with the process and no two works in my oeuvre bears any similarity with each other, adds the artist.

The artist completed his Bachelors in Visual Arts from the Indian College of Art Draftsmanship, Kolkata, and subsequently went on to do his Masters in Visual Arts from the Government College of Art and Craft Kolkata where he picked up oil based technique and continues to employ it in his present works. He has frequently participated in numerous workshops and shows in Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. The artist has been awarded by several institutions and bodies and he continues to practice his craft with his nascent semi urban sensibilities which are often speckled with the essence of folk art and fables surrounding religious sentiment and slow paced life of his hometown.