Basudeb Biswas (Sculptor)
was conferred with
Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi Sanmaan
Instituted by
Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi
by Shri Atul Dodiya, well known artist
at Punjab Kala Bhawan
Sector 16 B, Chandigarh
on 5th April 2019
Bangladesh born Basudeb Biswas is a sculptor highly appreciated for the quiet dignity, sparse linearity and deceptive simplicity of his creations. Curator and artist Dr. Alka Raghuvanshi avers that “his figures hark back to the historical rootedness of Mohenjodaro and Harappa and yet are able to hold their own in any international forum.”
His early childhood was marked by a move to Andaman and Nicobar islands in the 1960’s where his family sought refuge. Art made its presence felt in the agrarian life there, through clay dolls that his mother made and wooden boats that his father, a carpenter, crafted.
A dramatic meeting with an astrologer in 1977 after his Higher Secondary education led him to decide on a career in art. The next year, with the guidance of Port Blair artists Niresh Poddar and Swapnish Chaudhary, he made it to Kala Bhawan, Santiniketan, where he began exploring sculpture and its various mediums: clay, terracotta, plaster and cement. From moulding animals and mother-child figures he moved on to the female form. Materials being expensive, he began to experiment with scrap wood, wire mesh and plastic, resulting in the development of ‘refill drawings’, a style unique to his artistic expression.
On completing his Master’s from Santiniketan, he re-located to Jalandhar, Punjab, as a lecturer in the Sculpture Department of Apeejay College of Fine Arts. Collaborating with his colleague Mohinder Singh Kundhal, he began using techniques of terracotta baking and traditional Dokra metal casting, combining them with his own innovations. These brought him honours in the form of 2 State Awards, a selection at LKANew Delhi’s National Exhibition of Art and the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar.
Using terracotta, stone chips, bronze, and more recently mixed media such as scrap, wood and nails, Biswas has been constantly experimenting with materials, creating lean, slender figures that are rhythmically alive. He has attended National level camps on Stone carving at Madh island Mumbai; Ghaziabad; Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi and LKA Delhi, at Chandigarh and Kalagram (Manimajra), where his monumental sculptures, some more than 8 feet high, have won much acclaim.
Biswas has held solo exhibitions at Punjab University Chandigarh; Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Mumbai, besides participation in numerous group shows. From State Awards in 1989, 1992 and 2004, he moved on to win a National level award in 2007 by AIFACS, New Delhi. His works have been selected at the National Exhibition of Arts, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 11 times, the most recent being for his work, ‘Ajantrik -8.
Biswas continues to sculpt, reaching out to the public through Virsa Vihar, an Art Centre set up in Jalandhar, where pottery wheels, furnaces and a studio enable people of all ages to learn and engage with sculpture. He says, “My association with the Centre gives me a sense of joy, making me look at the journey of art so far. The only wish that remains is to work on a monumental scale, to create works of enormity that have an influence, an impact to live.”
Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi feels honoured in conferring the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi Sanmaan upon Shri Basudeb Biswas.