Samiran Dhar’s first canvas was the white wall in his room. “I was four when I was introduced to art. My mom got angry at me for something and I took my anger out on the wall. And strangely that was the first time I realised that I loved colours.” Not just the colours, Dhar says that even the wall for a canvas was something he came to love. “My dad bought a few drawing books for me, but I always felt that the book was too small a place to express myself, and so I preferred the wall to my book."
Having been a believer of ‘think-out-of-the-box’ since his childhood, the artist, at 28, is popular for his paintings that are as different and contemporary as they can get. Exemplary of that is his latest art exhibition, The Signature, currently on display at the Iconart Gallery.
Subjects ranging from human relations to nature, society and more, the art works convey the artist’s mind loud and clear. The amount of detail in his paintings is definitely thought-provoking and very relevant to youth today. Little things like the relationship between an employee and his ID card, or a person and his ear-phones have been portrayed with a limited colour scheme and a strong emotion. And every frame has a story to tell, quite literally. Samiran writes poetry on every frame, all of which is inspired from his experiences. “I don’t know if it is called poetry, but it is somewhere similar,” he laughs.
Samiran then continues, “The intention of my art works is not a static launching, it is a partake of my biological breath. So it seems to be connected with impulse of human agency. My work forms from my life journey, be it my happy times, sad times or times when I have felt extremely suffocated by every breath. When time plays its cruel game with me and I don’t have any place to express it, I take to the canvass, which is my signature,” he explains.
One very interesting aspect of his paintings are that he applies his own techniques of using geos on the canvass. “Just like the gird lines on a map, I use geos. These help me denote the colour temperature on that part and the situation that I want at that spot,” he explains.
Based in Kolkata, Samiran calls himself a contemporary artist. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) from Indira Kala Sangit Viswavidyalaya in Khairagarh (CG). He also pursued his Advance Drawing Study at the Institute of Fine Arts at Calcutta University Institute, Kolkata. Though the Benagali capital is where he resides, Hyderabad is his second home. Samiran taught at an art school in Hyderabad for two years from 2007-2009. “This was also the time when the Gokul Blasts occurred. Besides this tragedy, I underwent a personal tragedy as well, when the girl I loved, left me. This is expressed in one of my paintings called ‘Blast’, referring to the two incidents.”
An ardent observer, a few of his other art works definitely show the influence of the Hyderabadi culture on him. A series of yellow canvases, feature an auto and scooter with burqa-clad women in conversation. “When I was teaching in Hyderabad, I was always amused by these women. Hyderabad is so rich in culture and it has influenced me very deeply,” he shared.
Some paintings also carry a strong social message. A series of a paintings for a women, a victim of abuse definitely stand out. “Gender inequality has been one such issue which has to be dealth with sensitivity. People need to change their mindset and learn to if not respect women, not to hurt her. And I am happy that through art, I can do my bit to the society,” he said.
The art exhibition is on at the Iconart Gallery, located at Road No 12, Banjara Hills, till May 17 from 11:30 am to 7 pm.