SAYAK MITRA | VENTURA, CALIFORNIA

EXHIBITIONS

2018
DRINK ME, H Gallery curated by Yessíca Torres, Ventura, CA
SUMMER SHOW, Art Share LA, Los Angeles, CA 
JUNE, Stoneworks Gallery, Ventura, CA

2017
Indian Contemporaries, Art RUSSIA, curated by Aakshat Sinha, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India
Artmela at CIMA, Kolkata, India

2016
JOURNEY, M​aya Art Space,​ Kolkata, India

2015
Art Prize Exhibition at Fifth Third Bank, Grand Rapids, MI 
WALK THE LINE, curated by Manas Acharya, Chader Haat, Kolkata, India
Artmela at CIMA, Kolkata, India

2014
Print + Art, curated by Debabrata Chakrabortyat​MayaArtSpace,​ Kolkata, India
Space within space, Maya Art Space​, Kolkata, India
APFEST, Krasnoyarsk International Music Festival at Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia
NON GAZE CHRONICLES, Birla academy of art & culture, Kolkata, India
Democracy – Possibilities and impossibilities – curated by Amit Mukhopadhyay, Nandan Gallery, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan, Kolkata, India
Artmela at CIMA, Kolkata, India 

2012
ART SPOTTING III, Gallery Art Positive, New Delhi
AN INTERSTITIAL INTIMACY, Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata, India
Artmela at CIMA, Kolkata, India

2011
CENSUS OF SENSE, curated by Veeranganakumari Solanki, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, India
ARYANNA, by RAD, Town Hall, Kolkata, India
OCULAR, Birla academy of art & culture, Kolkata, India
HUGHS OF SPRING, Artists’ Centre, Mumbai, India
Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India 
Artmela at CIMA, Kolkata, India

2010
GenNext – V, Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata, India
POST PRODUCTION, curated by Manas Acharya, STUDIO21, Kolkata, India
monsoon mix, STUDIO21, Kolkata, India
Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India 
Artmela at CIMA, Kolkata, India

2009
Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India 
SUR-MAGIC, Galerie Karma, Kolkata, India
Academy of Fine Art’s annual show by the members of the Sketching club, at Academy of Fine Arts

2008
Academy of Fine Art’s annual show by the members of the Sketching club, at Academy of Fine Arts

2007
Academy of Fine Art’s annual show by the members of the Sketching club, at Academy of Fine Arts
State Govt. ‘Charukala prodarshani & Utsav’

2006
Academy of Fine Art’s annual show by the members of the Sketching club, at Academy of Fine Arts

2005
Bharatiya Sangeet Academy’s annual show at Academy of Fine Arts
State Govt. ‘Charukala prodarshani & Utsav’

2004
Camlin Art Foundation’s annual show at Academy Of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India
Metropolitan Art Saloon’s annual show at Metropolitan Art Saloon, Kolkata, India

SCREENING/ PROJECTS

Screening: Witness. Kolkata. Birla academy of art & culture, February 2016

Video art & Performance collaboration: Dreamcatcher, Kolkata. Ganges Art Gallery. 2016

Sayak’s video art and Anushree Tapadar’s performance collaboration at Ganges Art Gallery, Kolkata. August 2016

Video art & Performance collaboration: Body Space & Elements, Chapter I, Kolkata.

A performance and Sayak’s video art collaboration project of Performers Independent (Pi) Kolkata. Studio21 Gallery, Kolkata. June 2017

Video art & Performance collaboration: Body Space & Elements, Chapter II, Santiniketan. ‘Jyotishka Festival 2017’ initiated by Pi (Performers Independent Kolkata) and Lavrenty Repin at Santiniketan, India. A performance and video art collaboration project of Taufik Riaz and Sayak Mitra. 2017

SAYAK MITRA (b. 1984)

Sayak Mitra was born in Rishra, West Bengal, India.
He currently lives and works between Kolkata, India and Ventura, California. The densely juxtaposed & seemingly random themes of Sayak Mitra’s works describe his fascination with identifying cultural nuances prevalent in today’s consumerist society. Initially compelled to comment on the design and practice of political propaganda in his home country of India, Mitra’s work reflects a subtle yet similar thread inherent in the global trend of consumer capitalist realism. Like work by Sigmar Polke, Robert Rauschenberg & David Salle, his richly layered paintings depict boldly colored compositions using symbols like traffic signs, common objects, food, landscapes, cartoon iconography, geometric motifs and other innocuous content. His works may appear arbitrary at first glance, yet embody thoughtful humor and a lightness to otherwise darker themes.

ARTSIT STATEMENT

My main subject matter involves cultural nuance, political issues and social incidents, which are employed to establish discourse on the relationship between simple human emotions – love, happiness, agony – through the language of abstraction. Investigating human values in present time, I take ordinary mundane objects, scenes, symbols & characters, and introduce them as symbols of something much deeper.

The multidisciplinary nature of my work is inspired by fugacious exploration of human existence with unrestricted palette. Using representational elements in union with repetitious forms, I emphasize the pleasures of eternal entanglements. I take from the world around me – whether it be semiotics or journalistic materials like newspaper, magazine photos or television news. It could be something as banal as driving signs, fashionable textile patterns, or any significant infographic I find on my mobile app. The complex union of incoherent images, vivid colors and layered application designed with both digital tools and paint brush, invite us to communicate with the visual evidence gathered.

EDUCATION

B.Tech from West Bengal University of Technology (Now known as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology). Diploma in Multimedia & Animation from Jadavpur University, kolkata. Academic art training from Samares Chowdhury and Birendra Nath Goutam.

REPRESENTATION

2019 - Present, Dab Art Co., Los Angeles, CA

AWARDS

“Atul Bose” award for Best Oil / Acrylic / Mixed Media Painting, Academy Of Fine Arts, 2011

State Govt. ‘Charukala prodarshani & Utsav’, Certificate of merit, 2005.

Awarded by the State Govt. in state level, 2005.

WORKSHOPS

Art Camp organized by HabitArt, Bangalore, March 2012

“Earthy Tunes” work shop Organized by Banglanatakdot com and Public Relations Society of India in association with KHOJ Kolkata, RED FM 93.5 and Aaajkaal at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata, in 22nd April, 2010.

To commemorate the “World Day Prevention Child Abuse” Art Installation Camp organised by Banglanatak.com in association with World Summit Foundation, Switzerland at Dakshinapan Sadan, Kolkata, in 22nd April, 2010.

“Aranya 2010” art camp organised by Reflection of Another Day (RAD) at Dhamakhali, West Bengal, India, March 2011

Involved community mural arts projects with ‘Konnagar Pancharathi’, Konnagar, West Bengal, India