Aditya Basak
Nostalgia 3,
2015
Tempera & acrylic on canvas
32 × 24 in
Aditya Basak has a fascination for fantasies that fringe on the real world. He strives to give form to the harsh realities of life and the strange thoughts that lurk in the corners of the subconscious, and both give his paintings a disturbing, haunting quality.
Basak's journey as an artist began with his graduation in 1977 from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata. His paintings probe the psyche of man, plumbing the unknown depths within all of us. Like the great surrealists of the past, his work goes beyond the visible, beyond reason, to give his canvases a haunting quality. Fantasies executed in color, his paintings have a strong grounding in reality responsible for their disturbing effect.
To explain the inexplicable, both in terms of the world within and beyond the self, is the aim of most of Basak's paintings. "Through the medium of the fantastic, I probe the dark alleyways of human consciousness bringing to light the depths of the unconscious," he says. One of his favorite artistic tools is the incorporation of onlookers whose gaze he follows into the beyond. Objects that are aids to vision, such as the telescope, also find a place in his art, conveying the need for a medium of viewing.
Born in 1967, he graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata. He did his post graduation from Sir J J School of Arts, Mumbai. His solo exhibitions have been held at various prominent art galleries in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata and Tokyo. He has also participated in group shows in New York, Dubai, Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi, apart from several other exhibitions organized by reputed institutions across India.
Basak is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the National Award for Painting presented by the Lalit Kala Akademi. This prolific artist has already held more than 66 exhibitions.
Courtesy of saffronart.com, artsy.net, theartstrust.com