Aditya Basak

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Aditya Basak
File:Aditya Basak.jpgAditya Basak.jpg Aditya Basak.jpg Aditya Basak at his home (from his personal photograph collection)
Born	(1953-03-14) March 14, 1953 Kolkata, West Bengal, India
🎓 Alma mater	Government College of Art and Crafts, Calcutta
💼 Occupation	Painter
📆 Years active	1977–present
👩 Spouse(s)	Mamata Basak
👶 Children	2

Aditya Basak (born 1953) is a contemporary Indian artist from Kolkata (West Bengal, India). He is one of the artists who is trying to connect the gap between modern and post-modern art forms. His work reflects the constant evolution of human history—a testament to his core belief that nothing is constant—not the artist nor the art. This thought process, supported by powerful imagery, is depicted in his work along with the stark realities that represent life. He is a member of the Society of Contemporary Artists, Kolkata since 1983, one of the oldest active artist groups from West Bengal. Many eminent artists like Somnath Hore, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Pyne and others were early members of this group.

From humble beginnings in a North Kolkata locality (where he still resides), today he is a veteran artist and much revered in his field by his contemporaries.

Early Life and Education

Aditya was born in a joint family who were the descendants of Sovaram Basak, a notable merchant during early British rule. He was inclined to art from a very early age and was close to his uncle Dwarikanath Basak who was a sculptor and an alumnus of the Government College of Art and Crafts. His journey as an artist began from his graduation in 1977 from the Government College of Art and Crafts, Kolkata with a First Class Degree. It is here that he met and later married Mamata Ghosh, a fine arts and sculpture graduate in 1980. He currently lives with his wife and two daughters, Atreyee and Srijita, in his ancestral home in North Kolkata.

Artistic Approach

A painting titled 'Journey' by Aditya Basak

The total body of his work is marked by utter diversity rather than a unity of style. Aditya has always tried to breach through trendy waves with his yacht, risking a broken hull and tattered sail. Over the years, he has changed from easel to non-easel painting, miniature to mural proportions, installation to video art. Intuitively, Aditya has tried to work out the interrelationship of contemporaneity and heritage. Apparently in his expressions, he has sometimes turned his back to tradition and other times tried to work out a compromise, a synthesis, between every aspect of the art of humankind. He is metaphysical rather than religious. In this, he is unknowingly following Goethe's dictum that a creative person should be informed and aware of philosophy but not infected or affected by it. From the first exhibition, Aditya showed that the stuff and essence of his painting were a bit different. The 1979 exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, had a strange originality that attracted the attention of regular viewers and collectors alike.

A master in the true pictorial and poetic tradition of the Bengal school, Basak's work reflects the picture-making elements and visual styles of the 50s and 60s. His views on human history and evolution and the progression/regression of human civilizations are depicted strongly in several of his works. His work has been described as having a haunting quality. The use of darker tones and shadows further adds to the element of mystery that epitomizes his canvases.

Basak himself describes his approach to art as: "Through the medium of the fantastic, I probe the dark alleyways of human consciousness, bringing to light the depths of the unconscious..." 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.

Awards

He received the National Award of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in the year 1986, quite early in his career. In 1998, he was awarded a Senior Fellowship in the field of Visual Art by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. He has held various group and solo exhibitions in India and abroad, and his art is part of various well-known collections across the country as well as outside it.

• 1986 Received the National Award
• 1987 Received the State Award for West Bengal
• 1998 Senior Fellowship from the Ministry of Human Resource and Development
• 2008 Taj Gaurav Award
• 2015 Silpi Samman Award, from West Bengal Government

Career

Exhibitions and Shows

Solo Exhibitions

1999 'AdmitOne' gallery, New York

1999 Birla Academy, Kolkata

2002 Birla Academy, Mumbai

2003 Artworld, Chennai

2006 Anant Art Gallery, Delhi

2008 “Amber Alleys, Staccato Sounds”, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

2008 Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad

2014 ‘Myth Making’ Akar Prakar Kolkata

Group Shows

More than 100 group shows in the country including participation in National Exhibition, Bharat Bhavan Biennale, State Academy, Birla Academy, Icon Art Gallery New York, CIMA etc.

International Exhibition

1999 'AdmitOne' gallery, New York

1998 Indian Triennale of World Art, Celebration 50 yrs of Indian Independence

2001 Icon Art Gallery, New York

2011 'Enduring Legacy' at Berlin and Munich and other group shows in London, Hong Kong, Germany, New York, Bangladesh and Berlin by Akar Prokar.

All India and International Art Camps

Bangladesh : 1998 USA : 1999 and 2008 Singapore : 1999 Australia : 2004 Italy : 2005 Myanmar: 2006 Thailand : 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011 London/Scotland: 2006 and 2009 China : 2006 and 2009 Egypt : 2007 and 2008 Paris : 2007 Germany :2008 Turkey: 2008 Japan: 2009 Indonesia and Bali: 2010.

Video Art

Video work 'Death Foretold' screened at Indo British digital film festival organized by British Council (2001) The 'death foretold' was screened at an international conference on violence, memory and mutual understanding in Tel -Aviv (Middle East) and Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan (2002) Video work 'Chronicles' screened at the Indo-American film screening at Freer Art Gallery, Washington. (2003) and at the first short film festival by CSFF at Nandan (2004) Video work 'Eye Spy' screened at Kalpanirjhar International short film festival at Max Muller Bhavan (2005/2004)

A glimpse of his work is available here. Mojarto, an NDTV venture, also features some of his artwork along with a brief bio.

References

Amber Alleys, Staccato Sounds - Aditya Basak, Solo Catalogue
The Telegraph, December 13, 2014, p.13
The Telegraph, Feb 2, 2015.
The Telegraph, Jan 10, 2017.
Economic times [Feb 18, 2010
The Telegraph, February 1, 2014.(printed publication)
HT City [Feb 7, 2008](printed publication)
India Today [August 11, 2008](printed publication)
Anandabazar Patrika, April 19, 2008, p.8
Anandabazar Patrika, August 14, 2004, p.8
Anandabazar Patrika, February 1, 2014.
Anandabazar Patrika, January 6, 2007, p.10
Desh (Bengali Magazine) [May 2014 and June 2015]
DNA, Mumbai, August 2 2008, p.3(printed publication)
The Statesman, February 8, 2008, 9.10(printed publication)
The Statesman, November 19, 2009(printed publication)
The Telegraph, Thursday, 7 February, 2008, p.13(printed publication)
The Telegraph, April 20, 2006, p.23(printed publication)
The Telegraph, October 31, 2006, p.24(printed publication)
The Statesman, Kolkata, November 10, 2006(printed publication)
The New Sunday Express, March 16, 2003(printed publication)
Anandabazer Patrika, January 4, 2003, p.8(printed publication)
Miscellany City Express, February 27, 2003, p.6(printed publication)
The Telegraph, September, 28 2002, p.16(printed publication)
The Times of India, Kolkata, November 13 2006(printed publication)
The Telegraph, December 13, 2002, p.17(printed publication)
Anandabazar Patrika, November 2, 2002, (printed publication)
The Statesman, October 4, 2002, p.10(printed publication)
The Telegraph, April 16, 2001. p.18(printed publication)
The Asian Age, September 27, 2000, p.16(printed publication)
Anandabazar Patrika, November 20, 1999, p.6(printed publication)
The Telegraph September 2, 1994(printed publication)
The Statesman, January 2, 1993, p.4(printed publication)

External Links

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