Artist : Arnab Basu
Title : His Excellency
Medium : Oil on canvas
Size : 10" x 14"
Year : 2008
Artist and musician Arnab Basu began his professional career as an engineer, after securing his B.E from Jadavpur University and M.E. from Bits Pilani in 1989. A natural-born artist, Arnab catapaulted into fame with his first show itself, going on to win numerous awards (he is a four-times National Award winner in Oil Painting, Water Colour and pen&ink Caricatures) and to be a part of many prestigious shows.
This series of thought-provoking canvasses is done with earthy and neutral colours, the compositions seeming to emerge from dreams. One sees a profound influence of European Surrealism as well as primitive tribal art. Best described as “abstract figurative” works, with the elements being disintegrated and then reconstructed, juxtaposed upon one another to give a 3-dimensional effect. The same philosophy is reflected in the technique, where the colors are placed in thin transparent layers one upon the other, sometimes with a mystic, “cosmic bubble effect”, generally in the backgrounds.
Arnab Basu draws on Oriental and Occidental mythology and folklore for much of his subject matter. He lives and works in Kolkata.