Artist Sangram Majumdar's latest solo exhibition, ‘Bad Actors’, currently on view at Galerie Mirchandani in New Delhi, brings together a series of paintings populated by eerie figures, “monsters”, and distorted crowds. Running until July 25, the exhibition explores ideas of identity and perception through compositions that can feel unsettling to viewers.
Through the exhibition, Majumdar said, he tried to explore what it “means to work with conventions that underlie various languages of painting, and what it means to do something unexpected or ‘bad’.”
The paintings are crowded with imagery. They feature overlapping figures, layered brushstrokes and a mix of bright and dark colours. Rather than depicting conventional portraits, the distorted forms leave room for viewers to form their own interpretations.
The watchful gaze
Several paintings feature eyes peering out from different corners of the canvas. Some appear human, while others seem animal-like or belong to mysterious creatures. They give the viewer the feeling of being watched.
While a viewer’s gaze may land on the eyes almost immediately, to Majumdar they are loaded with meaning.
“Physical gestures are a key component of my paintings, both in terms of what is represented, but also the gesture embedded in the making of something,” he said. “The eyes are a way to suggest various types of tonal inflection. To me they are voices emanating from the painted spaces.”
In one of the untitled paintings, dark and ghostly heads occupy the picture plane alongside distorted facial features and animal-like forms. The composition feels crowded and theatrical, suggesting a gathering of witnesses or spectators. The figures appear to be acting out roles while simultaneously concealing their true selves.
The heads merge with surrounding swathes of colour, making their forms difficult to distinguish.
The overlapping figures create the impression that several stories are unfolding simultaneously. “Many of the paintings utilise methods of layering and removing to suggest multiple ‘voices’ speaking at once,” he said.
Another work, titled ‘Monstermahup’, combines decorative lattice-like patterns with fragmented bodies and mask-like faces. The criss-crossing marks obscures parts of the composition.
According to Majumdar, the openness of interpretation is one of the most important aspects of art. Rather than guiding viewers toward a single meaning, he hopes the works generate multiple readings.
“I don’t think it’s possible to limit viewers’ experiences,” he explained. “Interpretation or misinterpretation especially, is much more exciting because it generates open-ended questions.”
Making space for dialogue
Creating the exhibition took nearly a year and a half. The artist recalled working on several paintings simultaneously, allowing ideas to develop at different speeds.
“I usually work on multiple canvases at the same time, and often they are at different stages of completion,” he said. “Some days it’s about simply looking. Other times I work on only one painting for a few weeks while taking a break from the ones I don’t know what to do with.”
One of the biggest challenges, he noted, was ensuring that each painting maintained its own character while still belonging to the larger body of work. “I am not interested in making paintings that all behave the same way,” he said.
Majumdar sees art as a way of creating dialogue and providing space to discuss shared experiences.
“I think the function of art is to ask questions and to create space for conversations, dialogues and debates,” he said. “At the end of the day, I think it’s about being with people in a truly meaningful way.”