User:Joydip sengupta

JOYDIP SENGUPTA

Born 1973. Artist.

TEXT BY JOHNY M L

Joydip Sengupta is a new age chronicler of urban spaces. In his works urban spaces appear as a reality and crisis. Joydip’s creative meanderings through the omnipresent urban localities result in various expressions that include paintings, water colour drawings, sculptures and video works. Instead of generating logical narratives that would define the cultural issues engendered by the urban spaces, Joydip prefers to delve into a discourse of signs, which are both in common use and self-generated, that would further engage the viewer with the already existing discourses on urban spaces. This system of signs seen in the works of Joydip simultaneously endorses what we call the urban reality and its irrevocability, and the possible critical viewings of the same. And he generally qualifies all these works as ‘Elastic Dreams’.

A space assumes meanings within a given time when the human beings interact with it and make relational choices. The choices and the modes of interactions are determined by cultural and historical continuities, hence the space to which the personal engagement is made also comes to have properties that make this particular space of engagement similar to several other spaces existing elsewhere. Joydip’s location of discourse, the city of Delhi, in this way gains an emblematic status, which could exemplify any other urban space in the global scenario. It would be interesting to see how the artist, facilitated by the global connectivity of ‘localities’, speaks not only of Delhi and its reality but of any metropolis in the world. He, in his works, at once captures the essence of urban contradictions and the possibility of a critique within the impossibility of disassociation.

Apparently there are three pronounced features in Joydip’s painterly works. One, the images and events that he creates are placed within grid like formations created by specific colour patterns. Two, there is a forced juxtaposition between what we call the natural and the cultural. Three, there is an attempt to find the invisible linkages between cultural memories and the contemporary thoughts on the necessity of cultural memories. Subconsciously, the grid formations in the paintings simulate the location of their origin and discourse; urban spaces. The artist’s conscious juxtaposition of ‘natural’ with the ‘cultural’ suddenly spurs up a series of associations, which in turn would help the viewer to make ruminations over the ‘truth’ and ‘ethics’ of their own locations. Cultural memory as evidenced by the references to the ‘pata chitra’ folk painting tradition of Bengal aesthetically place the contemporary painterly idioms within a continuum; impossibility of creative engagement in isolation.

A closer look at Joydip’s works informs that the artist perceives urban space as a constituent element of contemporary culture. A culture that deliberately tries to be distinct with all its technological and time-space transcending communication and life style devices, when seen through the works of Joydip, seems to have inseparable associations with a time when the human beings were connected to each other through intuitions and emotions. Hence, the new urban culture (in other words the global techno-communication culture) is not a severance from the past but an outcome of human endeavors. This outcome, according to the artist, cannot be seen as an imposition. The visual commentary of the artist goes on to say that each individual, whether he is an active participant or a victim in/of the urban culture, should take the responsibility of the truth and ethics of their own locations.

This is a concern, an anxiety and the point of origin of a dream, which could be extended, for the artist. To express this concern, Joydip creates a few icons that are to be read in affirmative and negative terms simultaneously. Reading a cultural icon positively and negatively at the same time is one of the problems that the contemporary culture poses. Especially when the artist’s role is defined as a chronicler, it would be difficult for him to pose a direct critique on what he comments upon. However, the very act of painting (of sculpting and video making) uses its own dynamics to save the artist from just being a recorder. His ethical notions come to play in the articulation of images, the way sun comes goes in and out of clouds on a winter day.

The critique of urban culture, for the first time took the shape of an icon in Joydip’s works when he presented a solo in Delhi in 2004. He created the icon of a robot as a major metaphor with a sense of apprehension. The robotic image that he got from a newspaper and the caption attached to it became a point of departure for him as the robot in the picture had something ‘humane’ about it. The humaneness of a robot, though a paradox in a very practical sense, with its hands outstretched looks so ‘natural’ than ‘cultural’. Joydip cites how in Japan the decreasing number of young people proportionately increases the number of old people and thanks to the busy life style the young people are not finding enough time to care for their ageing parents and grand parents. In the technologically advanced countries like Japan, it is reported that robots are increasingly put to use for attending ageing people. In the long run, the old people develop emotional ties with the robots.

Robot, though a product of culture and of a menacing technological revolution, taken in a different context, is more facilitating than an actual human being. With emotional faculties these robots become surrogate human beings that in long term would redefine the very context for/in which they are produced and put into use. Then, can one accuse urban culture of dehumanizing tendencies? This is the question that Joydip also raises in his works. The iconic robot, both in a humorous and melancholic futuristic thought, could attain the status of godhead; a path and destiny rolled into one. This paradoxical situation is handled subtly by the artist in his paintings as well as in his sculptures.

Religion and war, perhaps the two sides of a coin called urbanization/globalization (as both cannot sustain without mutual support and growth) are also articulated as Joydip works further on his canvases and papers. While creating a benevolent robot (with all malevolence implied), he produces a counter character in the form of a supreme soldier. His point of reference is G.I.Joe toys that he has been seeing around him for a long time. On the one hand the artist places the robot on a tortoise, these action men are placed on a firm ground, with all war paraphernalia in place. In Indian iconography tortoise is one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and he is also seen as standing on it. Joydip’s robots too, when rendered in sculptural medium, stand on turtles as if they were representing a religious icon. The urban/global paradox is humorously reiterated in this rendering.

An implied parallel between the action men toys and the ‘ready to act’ robot subtly generates a critical discourse on the very act of viewing a culture through a chain of symbols. In Joydip’s ensemble, the meanings of the signs are either replaced or reversed. The action men as protectors become destroyers of humanity and the robots as ‘robot-cops’ (with destructive potentials) become protectors of humanity. In most of his works, Joydip, plays between these polemical images and derives a new way of association. The irony of juxtaposing disparate images and styles comes to be pronounced when, as mentioned elsewhere in this essay, Joydip uses the Pata Chitra style to portray potential terrorists/soldiers. The connectivity to cultural memory, when used for vested interests, can yield destructive results, it seems to say.

‘Elastic Dreams’ is not about a nostalgic longing for the golden past. The elasticity that Joydip intends to see in his dreams, an extension of pleasure in hope, is all about envisioning a world order, which is not drastically different from what we see around us today, but qualitatively different in freedom and choice. The artist is optimistic in a sense that he plunges all his negative thoughts in a kind of memory vault. The video work opens up this vault for the viewer. The images that are seen continuously merged one after another in darker tones look more like the images from a personal diary. It is a registration of images and incidents without the filtering of consciousness. The only conscious act in the video is the deliberation in editing; a conscious flipping through to see what is inside. Joydip dips in a river of memories and comes out to breathe the air of contemporary culture.

JohnyML, India

FROM BOSE PACIA GALLERY KOLKATA PRESS RELEASE

IN BOTH LARGE-SCALE OILS ON CANVAS AND SMALL-SCALE WATERCOLORS ON PAPER, JOYDIP SENGUPTA PRESENTS VIGNETTES FROM CONTEMPORARY INDIAN LIFE INTERLACED WITH IMAGES FROM ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY AND MOTIFS FROM DECORATIVE FRIEZES, JALIS AND TEXTILES. THE END RESULTS ARE COMPLEX PUZZLES THAT WEAVE TOGETHER A MYRIAD OF INFLUENCES AND EXPERIENCES, BROUGHT TOGETHER BY THE ARTIST'S DEFT HANDLING OF SURFACES, TEXTURES AND COLORS. OFTEN DIZZYING, ALWAYS OSCILLATING BETWEEN THE REPRESENTATIONAL AND THE ABSTRACT, A POINTED ICONOGRAPHY AND RANDOM ABSURDITY, JOYDIP'S WORKS ARE RICH AND MULTI-LAYERED, MUCH LIKE LIFE ITSELF.

THE ARTIST WAS BORN IN NEW DELHI IN 1973. HE RECEIVED HIS BFA IN 1998 FROM THE KALA BHAVAN, SANTINIKETAN AND HIS MFA FROM THE COLLEGE OF ART, NEW DELHI IN 2000. IN 2001 HE STUDIED AT THE DUNCAN OF JORDANSTONE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN IN GREAT BRITAIN. HE HAS HELD SOLO EXHIBITIONS OF HIS WORK AT THE SWISS EMBASSY (IN COLLABORATION WITH NATURE MORTE) AND ARUSHI ARTS IN NEW DELHI AND GALLERY ART WORLD IN CHENNAI. HE HAS PARTICIPATED IN A NUMBER OF GROUP SHOWS IN NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, BANGALORE, KOLKATA, VADODARA, AND SINGAPORE. HIS WORK IS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART IN NEW DELHI AND A WIDE VARIETY OF PRIVATE COLLECTIONS IN INDIA, EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES.

TEXT BY DONALD MCKENZIE

IT WAS CONTINENTAL DRIFT THAT PULLED US APART; THAT SEPARATION OF THE FIRST LAND MASS THAT GAVE RISE TO ALL THE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND PEOPLE AND TO THE VARIETY OF THE ETHNIC AND CULTURAL GROUPS WITHIN THEM. THE TRIBES OF THE WORLD HAVE NOT JUST SEPARATED GEOGRAPHICALLY BUT HAVE ALSO MOVED ALONG SEPARATE ROADS WITH BOTH GOOD AND BAD RESULTS. WITH THE ADVENT OF INCREASING GLOBALIZATION THIS SITUATION HAS BEEN EXACERBATED. TODAY WE ARE MORE THAN EVER AWARE OF THE ATTACK ON INDIVIDUALISM AND A GROWING ISOLATIONISM THAT CRAWLS INSIDIOUSLY FORWARD. SOMETIMES WE FIND OURSELVES ADRIFT FROM OUR ROOTS AND IN STRANGE LANDS – EVEN WITHIN THE COUNTRIES OF OUR BIRTH. AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK DOWN INSULARITY AND CONVENTION DOES CREATE NEW WAYS OF SEEING AND AS WE KNOW ART CANNOT EXIST IN VACUUM. I SEE IN JOYDIP SENGUPTA’S WORK AN EXPLORATION OF THESE IDEAS. I AM SCOTTISH AND FOR A PERIOD DURING 2000/01 JOYDIP AND I STUDIED AT THE SAME UNIVERSITY AS POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS. AS OUR ART DEVELOPED OVER THE MONTHS I BEGAN TO SEE IN JOYDIP’S WORK A FUSION OF EAST AND WEST, TRADITION AND MODERNITY AND OF THE INDIVIDUAL TRYING TO STAND OUT AGAINST THE CROWD. HIS EXPLORATIONS WERE REFLECTIONS ON HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, CULTURAL TRADITION AND CHANGING VIEWPOINTS. WE ARE ALL COMFORTABLE WITH OUR NATIONAL IDENTITY BUT IF ONE IS UPROOTED OR EXPERIENCES ANOTHER WAY OF LIFE IT IS DIFFICULT TO RETURN TO WHAT WAS THE EXISTING STATE OF AFFAIRS. IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES PERCEPTIONS CHANGE AND IT IS ONLY NATURAL THAT THE NEW VIEWPOINTS WILL BECOME NOTICEABLE IN AN ARTIST’S WORK. THERE IS A SHAMANISTIC ATMOSPHERE TO JOYDIP’S PICTURES. LIKE A NEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTER USING A PALIMPSEST OF IMAGERY AND MARKS JOYDIP ALSO BRINGS TOGETHER IN ONE PICTURE A LAYERING OF IDEAS. IT IS A CASE WHERE THE MEANING IN EACH PAINTING IS MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. HE HAS CREATED HIS OWN VISUAL LANGUAGE. THE COMBINATION OF SIGNS AND SYMBOLS AND HOW THEY ARE USED GIVE CLUES TO THE MEANING OF EACH WORK. WHEN YOU CONSIDER THEM IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ARTIST’S MILIEU YOU START TO GET THE ‘WHOLE PICTURE.’ FIRST OF COURSE THERE IS THE CRAFT. JOYDIP IS A DRAUGHTSMAN AND PAINTER. HE DEMONSTRATES THAT TRADITIONAL MATERIALS, BE IT OIL ON CANVAS OR WATERCOLOUR ON PAPER, CAN STILL BE USED TO EFFECTIVELY EXPLORE MODERN IDEAS. THE PICTURES ARE BRIGHT AND COLOURFUL – THEIR ATTRACTIVENESS DRAWS YOU IN – AND ONE IS AWARE THAT AN APPRENTICESHIP HAS BEEN SERVED. WITH THE COMMAND OF THE MATERIALS COMES THE FACILITY TO EXPRESS THE IDEAS – AND IN THIS DISPARATE WORLD, ARTISTS STILL HAVE A MAJOR ROLE TO PLAY AS OBSERVERS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION. IN JOYDIP I SEE A PERSON WHO THINKS ABOUT OUR COMMONALITY AND, POLITICS ASIDE, THAT WE ARE BASICALLY ALL THE SAME, SHARING SIMILAR HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS. BY BLENDING CULTURAL REFERENCES AND HIS USE OF SYMBOLISM HE ASKS US TO CONSIDER HOW WE ALL SHOULD RELATE TO ONE ANOTHER. JOYDIP IS A BRIDGE BUILDER

DONALD MCKENZIE SCOTLAND, UK,

Text by Seema Bawa

Joydip Sengupta is a rare commodity among the artists of today. His artistic discourse is deeply and evocatively political, but his art is truly painterly. His works reflect a study of the dynamic process of the transformation and perpetuation of signs and images in a constantly evolving post colonial environment.

Joydip Sengupta’s search for identity, individual and artistic both, fuelled by a sense of alienation, began during his stay in Scotland on a Commonwealth Fellowship. This encouraged him to explore his creative roots for a uniquely Indian worldview and sensibility. It is no wonder that much of his work is concerned with issues of identity- of race, religion and region- mediated through a symbology of myths and icons. As an artist who works by reference, Joydip derives his painterly devices from pre existing images as diverse as Kalighat paintings to Indian philosophical texts.

This informs much of his earlier works where concepts such as Chinmasta, based on Indian myths, are dominant. His current engrossment is with the insidious effects of globalization - leading not only to erosion of cultural heterogeneity but also to economic and regional marginalisation, in the guise of religion or democracy. The First and Third world dichotomy is portrayed through the use of ‘hybrid’ symbols, be it a mermaid like Laksmi or a part animal-part human figure.

The concern with late modernity is well brought out in his Narasimha series, where the Man-Lion incarnation of Vishnu incorporates the twin ability of devouring and saving humanity within himself, which typifies the dilemma of contemporary technology oriented society.

Perhaps the work that best encapsulates Joydip’s creative process is the ‘Blue Pool.’ Divided into three vertical compartments the composition juxtaposes the rear view of a vestibule of a bus to two images of a man practicing yogic postures. Mediating these two spaces is the artist himself, represented by paints and brush, superimposed over the iconic figure of Kali, the terrific goddess. Latent violence, androcentric tradition, repetitive technology driven modernity; and a combination of painterly realism, figural deconstruction and conventional iconography, epitomize his continuous effort to understand tradition trying to cope with displaced and constantly changing society.

The complex of motifs and devices in his paintings however prevent them from becoming overtly simplistic, be it an iconic Surya set among advertising hoarding or Hanuman flying with a truck in his hand instead of the sanjivini herb. One notices a subtle simultaneous commentary on the ‘kitschfication’ of cultural of sacred and symbolic imagery running through his paintings

Significantly, though Joydip may thematically enjoy inverting or rather reinventing tradition, but he retains the purity of medium in his almost exclusive use of oil on canvas. This lends a fresh bright luster to his works, and versatility of texture, so keenly missed in works of Joy’s generation.

If one were to categorize Joydip then it would as a ‘cerebral artist’ where ‘artist’ would be the crucial element in the phrase, who is constantly negotiating his contemporary reality but in a very painterly fashion. He never compromises on the aesthetics to depict ugliness and disharmony.

Seema Bawa, India

Education:

2001: MFA - Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, UK 2000: MFA - College of Art, New Delhi 1998: BFA - Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan

Exhibitions:

• Solo

2008: “Elastic Dreams”, Pundole Art Gallery & Arushi Arts, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai 2007: “Equinox Shift”, Gallery BOSE PACIA, Kolkata 2006: “Sign – Sequence”, watercolor show, Triveni, Arushi Arts, New Delhi “Lost in Translation”, Gallery NATURE MORTE & the Swiss Embassy, New Delhi 2005: “Urban Space”, Gallery Art World, Chennai 2004: “Imagined Metaphors”, Triveni Gallery, New Delhi 2003: Gallery Art World, Chennai 1999: “Constructions in Space”, Gallery Art India Style, New Delhi

• Group

2009: “Art for Concern”, Annual Charity Auction, Concern India, Mumbai 2008: Emami Chisel Art Auction, Contemporary and Modern Indian Art, Kolkata “ART Singapore”, Suntec, Singapore “The Sun Rises In The East”, Galerie Christian Hosp, Austria “Harvest Show”, Stainless Gallery, Arushi Arts “Art Beat”, The Shrine Gallery, New Delhi “Beyond Boundaries”, Gallery in 28 Cork St, Arushi Arts, London “The Holi Show”, Red Earth, New Delhi “Art for Concern”, Annual Charity Auction, Concern India, Mumbai 2007: “Harvest show”, Arushi Arts, New Delhi “REAL", Matters of Art, New Delhi “Vanity Fair”, Mon Art Gallery, Kolkata “Cross roads”, Anant Art Gallery, Kolkata 2006: 'A Compensation for What has been Lost', Art Concerns, Travancore House, New Delhi “Monsoon Moods”, Art India Gallery, JSW foundation Mumbai “Harvest Show”, Arushi Arts, New Delhi ‘The Indian Art Show’, Arushi Arts, Nehru Centre, UK ‘Online Show’, The Arts Trust, Mumbai 2005: “Contemporary Forms”, CIMA, Kolkata “TUCHE”, Gallery Kaleidoscope, Vadodara “Detour”, Gallery 88, Mumbai ‘Hiroshima - Never Again’, Arpana Gallery, New Delhi ‘Monsoon Show’, Nature Morte, New Delhi ‘Art Waves’, Gallery Art Mosaic, Singapore 2004: ‘Singular IdentityS’, Visual Arts Gallery, IHC, New Delhi 47th. National Exhibition of Art, Lalit Kala Akademi ‘Face to Face – an exhibition on portraiture.’ CIMA Gallery, Kolkata ‘Urban Confluence’, Apparao Galleries, Triveni, New Delhi Two-Man Show, Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore 9th. Harmony show, Nehru Centre, Mumbai 2002: ‘Beyond Memory’, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi ‘Young Contemporaries from Santiniketan’, Gallery Espace, New Delhi 1998: 41st. National Exhibition of Art, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi

Awards:

2000: Commonwealth Scholarship, UK M.F. Hussain Award, College of Art, New Delhi 1999: The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Canada 1996: The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Canada National Scholarship, Ministry of HRD, New Delhi