User:Mondalsamir

Samir Mondal (b. 1952)

West Bengal, INDIA

Samir Mondal's most amazing contribution to Indian art of modern times is a continual revival of water colour. His water colours have never lost their originality, their innovativeness and their classic elegance, yet they are truly modern paintings.

An alumnus of Government College of Arts, Kolkata, Mondal has held 34 solo shows and participated in many important group exhibitions in major cities of India and abroad.

Explored major cities of Germany for art study under INDO-FRG Cultural Exchange Programme by DAAD.

Participated in many prestigious Art auctions by Christies and others.

Visited Paris, Germany, Dubai, Mauritius, Australia, Bangkok, Kenya, Israel, Egypt, Russia, Morocco, China and Japan.

Mondal has received many prestigious Awards including AIFACS, New Delhi, West Bengal State Academy Award (twice), Academy of Fine Arts Award (twice) and A.P. Council of Artists Hyderabad.

His works are part of valued collections of National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi, Museums of Karnataka, RPG Enterprises, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata Steel, Birla group of companies, ICI India Ltd., Benson and Hedges, Morarji Mills, Brooke Bond, Citibank, Ministry of External Affairs, India, Office of Star Plus, DSP Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Solomon Smith Barney India Ltd., MICO India, Bangalore, J P Morgan and many personal collections in India and abroad.

Other activities:

Learnt the art of Pantomime and performed around 200 shows. Learnt the Indian classical dance, Kathakali for enriching the art of pantomime.

Worked for more than eight years in the fields of animation filmmaking, set design for theatre, films and puppet shows.

Founder member of Contrivance, a group of artist in Kolkata and was the editor of Bengali art journal, ‘Notun Chhobi’

Created 'Mulla Nasruddin' -- India's first watercolour column in 'The Illustrated Weekly of India'.

Worked for National Council of Science Museums, India and designed the ‘Festival of Science’ for USA, Russia and Europe.

Two major 'Poetry-Painting' shows in Mumbai and Kolkata, a collaborative programme with the poet Pritish Nandy. Both the shows inaugurated by Amitabh Bachchan and created a huge media and audience impact.

Samir Mondal lives and works in Mumbai.