Sajal Sasanka Sarkar

How have your work and your creative process evolved since your years in college, in terms of both influences and output? Did your move from Kolkata to Baroda affect your work in any way?

When I shifted to Baroda from Kolkata I was exposed to many diverse mediums and themes that have brought a change in my work. Mediums played a very large role in the way I visualize my work now. The Faculty of Fine...

How have your work and your creative process evolved since your years in college, in terms of both influences and output? Did your move from Kolkata to Baroda affect your work in any way?

When I shifted to Baroda from Kolkata I was exposed to many diverse mediums and themes that have brought a change in my work. Mediums played a very large role in the way I visualize my work now. The Faculty of Fine Arts gave me a new way of expressing the multiple visual cultures. During my college days, Atul Dodiya’s works inspired me and gave me different insight to a work of art, since then my journey took me in a new direction.

Can you tell us a little about the figures, motifs and signs in your work, and what they communicate to the viewer?

Figuration is a part of my canvas; I enjoy the relationship and its immediate reaction to the environment. So when I participated in ‘Cutting Chai’ an exhibition curated by Sandhya Borwedekar this summer (2010), the memories at the ‘tea laari’ where we have spent endless time talking, discussing and exploring, I remembered the motifs on parking, of crossing and many such symbols. Thereafter, I continued to evaluate these symbols and tried to look at them individually and understand its existence on its own without the value provided to its subjective nature. I felt that they panned in various perspectives and therefore were metaphorical in nature and created a visual paradox. And as philosophically I do hope that the viewer relishes its communicative interpretation.

Recently you used tea water in your work to stain and colour the surface. Can you tell us about that process, and what the medium added to your works?

It all really very simple, I boil water with the tea grains and after it cools, I use it with a brush on the paper, layer by layer to get the perfect result. First it was an experiment but later I felt it is an interesting medium to explore.

Apart from watercolour and tea stains, what are some of the other media you have worked with? Are there any other genres of art you would like to try out?

I use acrylic colors on canvas and paper. Currently I am researching paper pulp: works in paper on paper, reliefs in paper pulp. I would like to use this medium in my installations in the very near future.

Can you tell us a little about the directions in which you see your creative practice heading now? What are some of the projects you are currently working on?

In the race for development, there are many concerns that do not get our proper time or attention for growth. We are crowded, there are countless layers on each one of us and it is so difficult to remove or enjoy each one of these individually. It’s a struggle for space, physical or mental. My works in future installations or paintings would reflect these issues. I am currently researching the usage of materials/medium that supports this ideology.