Saumik Chakraborty, born on July 13, 1975, is a ‘self-taught’ art practitioner and an acclaimed stage craft designer. He has been associated with the theatre industry for the last 20 years, having designed over 150 productions on stage.

My first viewing of his art works took place rather informally; in fact, I would like to call it an uninitiated accident. The reason I call it so is purely because of the sudden discovery of his work, which I realised later with time. His work is, to me, pure allegory, an image of the contemporary social situation. His work appeals and narrates not only to a restricted society but on a much larger scale; the landscape stretches out to reflect the communities and their history throughout the world. His selection of colours and tones, along with the way he tackles various mediums, only recites the metaphorical hues, which he chronicles through the melancholic nature and sensitivity of his compositions. He laments, screams, and cries in anxiety and despair. He gets frustrated with the mental trauma he experiences due to the socio-political events that trigger thoughts that get reflected in his work. Saumik’s work also displays a deep feeling of re-visiting his past struggles, hopes, memories, and remembrances, which he records with utter honesty and reality, which again demonstrates the despair and pathos of the times gone by.

Saumik explores different mediums like charcoal, conte, dry pastel, ink, graphite, and acrylic, along with the usage of techniques like photocopy transfer. Most of his works come with a dominant surface (self-made), which also acts as a fantastic background, and then we see the enactment of a subtle dialogue between the background and foreground. There’s an unrealized play of megalographical images used as a ropographical study in his works.

Ayan Mukherjee
Curator