“Picture making in watercolor is an exciting game. Color becomes my opponent. Every stroke of my brush is countered by color itself and overwhelms me.”

This is how eminent artist Samir Mondal describes his art process. Over the years, several icons have dominated his consciousness. He mentions: “Typically I began with landscapes. Then stylized figures, and then themes… I’d take one subject and explore it from all angles possible.” Always though, the theme was an essential part of his life, a process in which he was personally involved.

Samir Mondal studied art at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata. Later he went to Germany and France as part of the INDO-FRG Cultural Exchange Program. The artist has taken part in several group shows, including the National Art Exhibition of Lalit Kala Akademi, as well as in group shows in London and NY. A recipient of the West Bengal State Academy Award and the Award of the academy of Fine Arts, he has had solos in India and internationally.

His recent exhibition ‘The Faded Manuscript’ looked to initiate a dialogue with the viewers. A curatorial note delving into it mentioned: “As one enters the space of posited signs in it, no name is known until one speaks it, somebody returns your call and suddenly the circuit of signs, gesture, and gesticulation is embellished and one enters the territory of the right to narrate. You are part of a dialogue with the painter that may not, at first be heard or heralded – you may be ignored in another country that is also your own, your present divides, and in arriving the forked path your encounter yourself in a double moment, one as stranger then as a friend.”

The prolific artist strives to mediate through watercolor medium that continues to challenge the artist. The medium is fluidly sublime; its manipulation reflects the proficiency and dynamism of the artist who is handling it. All these qualities are amply evident in Samir Mondal’s oeuvre.

(Image courtesy: http://www.samirmondal.com/)