Bimal Sarkar, one of the participating artists at Art Convergence (a group exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculptures at the India Habitat Centre) specialises in watercolours.
So much so that he even uses watercolours on canvas instead of acrylic paints.“An artist must keep innovating, otherwise, it can get dull and drab,” says Sarkar who works as an art teacher at Noida’s Army Public School. A quick tour around the institution is enough to understand his expertise – the display boards proclaim it loud and clear.
“I feel water is the most interesting medium – it can either be worked as transparent or opaque,” he says.
In a way, Art Convergence is Sarkar’s first show. He had done a couple of shows back in the late 1980s when he was still studying.
But that doesn’t undermine his creativity in any manner. His four works – three charcoal drawings and one acrylic – put up at the IHC show captures nature in its full glory.
Born and brought up in the small village of Pachagar in Coochbehar district of West Bengal, Sarkar owes his creative skills to his nanaji. “Though not a professional, he was a great artist who could create beautiful sculptures from mud and Plaster of Paris. As a child, I was quite amazed by his skills,” Sarkar says. So much so that he decided to become an artist when he grew up, much against the wishes of his parents. “Art, back then, was not a vocation any parent would want their child to pursue. There was no money in art, so their opposition was understandable,” he says.
After completing school, Sarkar did his graduation from Ravindra Bharati University, Kolkata and then joined Kala Bhawan, Santiniketan, for doing PG in arts.
In 1990, he moved to Delhi and began working as a freelance artist and illustrator. “Delhi was an eye-opener for me – lots of works for artists but cut-throat competition. But this also made me realise that I have to keep innovating to make myself relevant to the time which I did. One must keep reinventing self,” he adds.
“These days artists are much better placed. They have many facilities which we didn’t have,” he says. He has a word of advice, though, for the upcoming artists. “There is no substitute for hard work. Back when I was studying, we used to travel outdoors for making Nature paintings like forests, river banks etc. Young art students of today, click pictures and then turn those into drawings. I don’t think that’s a very good way of capturing Nature,” Sarkar says.
KNOW THE ARTIST
■ Sarkar is into realistic and semi-realistic works. Abstract art doesn’t interest him at all.
■ Other than painting Nature, he loves doing pencil portraits.
■ In his free time, he loves to teach art to small children.