| Malay Saha |
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Malay Saha’s current series of canvases illustrate the limitless visual possibilities that exist in our everyday world of mundane objects. There is a warm intimacy and unforced charm in the way the artist brings together a multiplicity of homely objects inside a room – carpets, sofa, lamps, tables, jugs and glasses, billowing curtains, a crumpled bedspread on an empty bed or the stitched upholstery of a chair – in a manner that, rather than submerging human presence, reinforces it by pointing out the everyday life pre-occupations of ordinary men and women.
In some canvases like ‘Inside, Outside’ and ‘Beyond the Window’, the viewer’s attention is drawn from the mélange of objects within the room, towards warm skies, bubbling clouds, fern-like foliage, and even a passing airplane, glimpsed tantalizingly through open windows. In these canvases, the more intensely detailed massing of objects in the room is juxtaposed with small vignettes of human figures in cramped positions on a bed, or contained inside a cell phone. It is almost as if, hemmed in by the stasis and claustrophobic clutter of daily life, there is a yearning, a pointing of the way towards the freedom and movement of the world outside.
There is consummate artistry in the way Malay has painted his scenes. Every image, however small, is minutely detailed and perfected – the weave of curtains, the patterns on textiles and carpets, the switch on a lamp, the patches and stitches running across torn upholstery, the movement of wind through the curtains, the texture of clouds. And the artist improvises further on the detailing, weaving his own charming distortions of form and perspective, and imaginary patterns and textures into ordinary objects. The colours Malay uses are exquisitely warm and vibrant – the colours of life.
Notwithstanding the intricacy and clamour of objects, the totality of the image is never allowed to fragment or fall apart. In scenes where the conglomeration of objects is crammed to bursting point, the artist creates within the main frame of his canvas – groupings within many smaller frames, each juxtaposed against the other at different angles, to form a multiplicity of interesting perspectives. A lovely rhythm is thereby generated that pulls the various components of the canvas into a single cohesive image.
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About the Artist
Birth: December 1966
Art Education: Bachelor of Visual Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, 1992; Master of Fine Arts, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, 1995
Selected Exhibitions and Participations
Solo
1992 Tagore Art Gallery, Netaji Subhas International Airport, Kolkata
Two-Man
2003 ‘Perception and Images’, Octagon Gallery, National Museum, Botswana, Southern Africa
Group
2008 Contemporary Art India's 'Earth on Canvas - Art campaigns for Conservation', Kolkata
2008 Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata, Annual
2007 Contemporary Art India's 'Earth on Canvas - Art campaigns for Conservation', at New Delhi, in association with WWF-India
2006 CIMA Art Gallery, Kolkata
2006 Contemporary Art India Kolkata
2003 ‘Art Teachers Exhibition’ Botswana National Museum Southern Africa
2003 ‘Artists in Botswana’ Annual Exhibition, Main Gallery, Botswana National Museum, Gabarone, Southern Africa
2002 ‘Artists in Botswana’ Annual Exhibition, Main Gallery, Botswana National Museum, Gabarone, Southern Africa
2002 ‘HIV/AIDS Awareness’ exhibition, Main Gallery, Botswana National Museum, Southern Africa
1999 Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata
1998 ‘Young Santiniketan Today’ Guild Art Gallery Mumbai
1998 ‘New Perceptions, Images & Media’ Arpana Academy of Art & Culture, N. Delhi and CIMA Art Gallery Kolkata
1997 ‘Colours of Independence’ Org. National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in association with CIMA, N. Delhi
1997 Hertwitz Gallery org. Kanoria Art Centre Ahmedabad
1997 Visual Arts Centre, org. Kanoria Art Centre. Ahmedabad
1997 ‘Fifty Years of Independence’ Gujerat State Lalit Kala Academy, Ahmedabad, org. AIFACS
1997 ‘Award Winner’s Exhibition’, Birla Academy of art & Culture Kolkata
1996 All India Annual Exhibition, Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata
1996 ‘Highlights’ Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai, curated by CIMA
1994 ‘Exploration’ Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA) Kolkata
1993 Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition, Kolkata
1988 – 1991 Rabindra Bharati Annual Exhibitions
Awards
1996 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, USA
1996 Birla Academy Award Birla Academy of Arts & Culture, Kolkata
1997 Junior Research Fellowship Ministry of Human Resource & Development, Govt. of India
1999 Sukumar Das Award, Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata
1999 Academy’s Award Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata
2002 Best Drawing Award Botswana National Museum Southern Africa
2003 Merit in Painting Botswana National Museum, Southern Africa
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