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Sanjay Bhattacharya
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For Sanjay Bhattacharya, school was the most boring thing on earth. He was
clearly not interested in books or studies. After Sanjay finished school, he
decided he wanted to have nothing more to do with books. He went to the
Government College of Arts & Crafts, Kolkotta and graduated in 1982 in fine
arts.
The youngest son of four children of a retired account officer, Sanjay says
he was never aware that he had a hidden...
Read More
For Sanjay Bhattacharya, school was the most boring thing on earth. He was
clearly not interested in books or studies. After Sanjay finished school, he
decided he wanted to have nothing more to do with books. He went to the
Government College of Arts & Crafts, Kolkotta and graduated in 1982 in fine
arts.
The youngest son of four children of a retired account officer, Sanjay says
he was never aware that he had a hidden artistic talent and an enormous
capacity for hard work. "I got appalling grades in the first year," he
laughs.
After graduating, he joined an ad agency, Clarion, as an illustrator and
shifted to Delhi. "On the first day, they asked me to do one an ad on tyres.
However much I tried, the nature of work did not agree with my artistic
self," says Sanjay. He left the agency nine months later and joined
Hindustan Thomson Associates. "They gave me the freedom to freelance," he
recalls. Sanjay rented a place in Delhi and managed to complete 16 or 17
watercolours and some oils. He exhibited them in Dhoomimal Gallery. As luck
would have it, all the five water colour were sold out within a week. The
year was 1988.
Sanjay's first inspiration was the Phantom. Yes, the phantom of those famous
Phantom comics. "I used to draw Phantom everywhere, on the walls, on the
doors," he says.
But Sanjay---- one of the most gifted students of realist painter Bikash
Bhattacharya --- has moved quite far from the realms of fantasy. He
practices realism as a genre of art. "My genre of art had to compete with
the camera, which copies reality better than the canvas. So we have had to
find ways to blend the inner and outer realities, or maybe confront one to
another," he adds.
Sanjay's figurative images are quite close to those found in the works of
the Dutch realist painters or the French 18th century painters.
Either oil paintings or watercolours, what has really inspired most of
Sanjay's works are the inner and outer realities evoked by architectural
elements. Like old, vacant houses. "They are of great interest to me. They
tell me stories of people who lived there, who loved there, or fought there.
There is a lot of colour and texture in their decaying walls, if only we
took the trouble of seeing them." So, in some of his works, we find dark
bedrooms with old style table, dressing table, chairs, part of a four
poster, or bedstead with massive, ornately carved head-board set against
bright sunlight coming in through open windows.
It's not just empty houses that Sanjay has painted. He has also painted
lived in houses. He has painted a mother combing her daughters' hair; the
family silver locked inside the cupboard or the kitchen with its beautiful
pots and pans.
A lot of his paintings are of the lower middle class families, who are not
really heartbreakingly poor, but almost on the edge.
Along with homes and families, Sanjay's work consists of realistic
portraiture. Like the exhibition he did on late Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi's portraits. There are no larger than life images here. The interiors
against which he has painted Gandhi are untelling and cryptic behind their
dark brown layers.
Besides homes and portraits, Sanjay's paintings are all about Calcutta. His
total involvement with the streets of Calcutta comes through on his canvas.
There is Calcutta decaying, Calcutta the city of dilapidated palaces of the
19th century rich, Calcutta of the faded British grandeur.
While talking about the impact of art, he narrates an experience he had when
he climbed up a mountain path in Assam. Suddenly as he reached a point, he
beheld an awe-aspiring scene of the river Brahamaputra. A small boy who had
come up the path upon beholding the seen cried out in spontaneous wonder.
Sanjay says, "I realised that a work of art too must arouse such a response.
A painting must make an impact, hold one spell bound."
Sanjay says that sometimes he misses being that little boy, who would walk
along the footpath at Park Street, in Calcutta, towards the Outram Ghat or
Howrah bridge, with a drawing board in hand. "Now I sit in tall buildings,
and have lost touch with reality," he sighs.
Sanjay Bhattacharya spends his time living between Delhi and Kolkotta.
Read Less
Born
1958
Kolkata
Education
1977-82 Diploma (Fine Arts),Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2012 'Emerging Krishna', Religare...
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2012 'Emerging Krishna', Religare Arts Initiative, New Delhi
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 'Edge of Reason- and beyond, into pure creativity', presented by Indian Art Circle at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2011 'Masterclass', Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
2011 'Reprise', Aicon Gallery, New York
2010 'Holy Now', presented by Religare Arts Initiative, New Delhi at Gallery 27, London
2010 Annual Exhibition, Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi
2010 'Home and the World', Aicon Gallery, New York
2008 'Harvest 2008', organized by Arushi Arts at The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi
2008 'Mystic Expressions', Visual Art Gallery, New Delhi
1996 'Sanjay Bhattacharya 1981-96',Art Today, New Delhi
1994 'Rajiv Gandhi:Landscape of a man',National Gallery of Modern Art(NGMA) and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1992 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1991 Gallarie 88, Kolkata
1989 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata
1988 Gallery Aurobindo, New Delhi
Honours and Awards
Best Artist, St Xavier's Award, Calcutta
Sahitya Kala Annual Yuva Mahotsava, Delhi
AIFACS Watercolour Award.
Best Artist, St Xavier's Award, Calcutta
Sahitya Kala Annual Yuva Mahotsava, Delhi
AIFACS Watercolour Award.
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PAST AUCTIONS
Showing
4
of
4
works
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Lot 161
Details
Auction 2002 (December)
1-4 December 2002
Untitled
Oil on canvas
54 x 42.5 in
Winning bid
$5,145
Rs 2,57,250
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 191
Details
Auction 2002 (May)
13-16 May 2002
Untitled
Oil on canvas
43.5 x 35.5 in
Winning bid
$3,500
Rs 1,68,000
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 197
Details
Auction 2001 (December)
6-12 December 2001
The Gate
Oil on canvas
38.5 x 58 in
Winning bid
$5,200
Rs 2,47,000
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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PAST StoryLTD AUCTIONS
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EXHIBITIONS
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