Style :
Somenath Maity is self-professedly an artist of urban environments and cultures. Called avant-garde and unconventional for his landscapes, this artist’s favourite occupation is to find the inner beauty that exists in every big city and that most people don’t see or bother to look for, and then express it in his abstract oils on canvas. Maity builds up his paintings, all aptly titled “structure”, one brush stroke at a time, almost as an architect would work on a blueprint for a building.
Maity’s colors and textures are strong, bringing to the forefront the life of the urban sprawls that he paints, and investing them with a force that works beyond the life of their inhabitants, keeping them ticking no matter who comes or goes, lives or dies.
About the Artist & his work :
Born : 1960 – Midnapore, West Bengal.
Education :
- 1980-85 Diploma in Fine Arts, Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship, Kolkata.
- 1979-85 Fine Arts, College of Visual Arts, Kolkata.
Exhibitions :
Selected Solo Exhibitions :
- 2011 ‘Structures’, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai .
- 2008 ‘Structures’, Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata .
- 2006 ‘Structure: Cityscape’, organized by Mahua Art Gallery at Leela Galleria, Bangalore.
- 2004 Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai .
- 2002 Barn Gallery, Henley, UK .
- 2002-01 Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Karnataka .
- 1999 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai .
- 1998 Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata .
- 1991,94 Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata .
- 1989 Tagore Art Gallery, Kolkata.
Selected Group Exhibitions :
- 2008 ‘Spirit of Abstraction’, Mahua Art Gallery, Kolkata .
- 2008 ‘Structure and Mystic Space’, Tamarind Art, New York in collaboration with Time and Space Gallery, Bangalore .
- 2007 ‘Emerging India’, organized by Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi and S.A. Fine Arts, London at Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Arts, UK .
- 2005 ‘Sculpture Square’, Lasalle- Sia College of Art, Singapore .
- 2003 `Art Access ‘ organized by Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Mumbai.
- 2003 Art for Chitrakala Parishath , Bangalore organized by FORHD .
- 2002 East Zone Regional Exhibition, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata .
- 2002 All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi .
- 1984 ‘Gitanjali to Pather Panchali’, Tata Centre, Kolkata
Joint Exhibitions :
- 1999 With Siddharta Sengupta at Galerie 88, Kolkata
Honours and Awards :
- 2002-03 Senior Fellowship of Government of India, Cultural Department, New Delhi
- 2002 Scholarship, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
- 2002 Birla Academy Award, Kolkata
- 1995 Scholarship, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
- 1993-94 Research Grant from Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
- 1986 Award, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi
- 1984,85 B.P.Poddar Memorial Scholarship, College of Visual Arts, West Bengal.
