Down the Memory Lane

I am both a ceramic sculptor and a painter. My work is multidimensional in subject and form. In my art reality is expressed as abstract ideas, where isolated imagery is expressed in metaphorical sense. To me the conflict of ongoing life is established as a symbol. My work is in response to the ongoing reality. The memories left behind, the glorious crisis of today's globalised life, the endangered environment all these things hurt me. The daily struggles of human life with all these things that deeply touched me. My artwork is an outpouring of conscious and subconscious memories of life’s long experience. I was born in Naihati, West Bengal. This is a small suburb near Kolkata. After partition, my parents came from Bangladesh and started living permanently in this small town. We lived in a rented house where some more families lived together with our family. This was a time when I and my family personally struggled to survive with reality. But the vivid experience of that time is quite different which has made me much more tolerant as an artist later on. I saw my grandmother make cooking fuel herself and she used to put cow dung to dry on the wall to make fuel. The lasting impression of the cow dung turned on the walls of our house which was later reflected in my art. Again I saw my mother giving bori (Bengali Cuisine). The lasting impression of the bori on the cloth after it has dried is later reflected in my art. I take pleasure such impressions. In these I find the memories I left behind which is subconsciously revealed to my painting and ceramics sculpture. I also remember when I was very young, me and my sister used to make shoe boxes. The boxes we made for the shoe factory. This box was made by sticking small boards or pieces of cloth with glue. I am now amazed when I recall those artistic styles of shoebox making in my artwork today.In addition to all this, the influence of music in my work manifested. Towards the end of my student life at the art college, I designed the stage for one of the leading music bands in Kolkata. Working with them for seven long years created love for music, which is subconsciously expressed in my work. My childhood memories and connection with the soil have awakened my sense of art. The conflict of subordinate life and the emptiness of the universe are revealed in my work. In doing this I sometimes choose ceramic or sometimes canvas or paper as the medium of expression.