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My thoughts

I try to give shape to human emotions through my sculptural works. My sculptures speak on a very personal note. The works transcends from mere physical objects in order to express human emotions. In our present urban life, every one of us gets confined to our limited periphery. Such idea of confinement can be translated in many ways. The artist is always concerned about the spaces of human interaction. Being a modern urban resident, I thrive for such emotional exchanges. In every way, the present socio-political-economic situation does not allow us to step across our boundary. In our day to day life, we are governed by norms which again confine us and curb our freedom of expression. I thus use the form of a human hand as a symbol. My hands appear in various forms. Sometimes they appear in straight and upright positions, breaking the limits while reaching out for the outside world. In some other sculptures they appear inflated taking a bulbous shape, much like a balloon which floats easily across territories. 

Again in some works I experiments and distorts the form giving it an appearance of a polydactyl hand. My hands are representative of a universal human being, who fights and struggles for their own existence. All such gestures are signifiers of joy, sorrow, violence, compassion, strength, weakness, solidarity, protest as well as of bondage and freedom. They become the collective voice of the confined. My sculptures can be literally labelled as expressionistic. They become the sole vehicle to translate and mould inner thoughts of my artistic mind. Few of my bronze and aluminium hands are highly polished and reflect the immediate environment. These hands thus acquire a mirror like transparency which establishes a new continuity between the moulded space and the free space surrounding it. My works are visually static but it incorporates the various dynamics of its social surrounding. Initially I also appear to be obsessed with the form of a cube. My seldom places or merges my hands with the structure. At times my hands even jostle to free itself from the cubical form. The cube becomes a metaphor of the universe or the confined space which concerns me. Apart from the anecdotal or personal references my works remains extremely minimalist in approach as I constantly reduces and simplifies my objects and provides clarity to them.

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About Sumitabha

Sumitabha Pal, born in 2nd September 1967 and brought up in Bhatpara, North 24 Parganas in West Bengal a suburb area near Kolkata. After finished his High School take Art Education i.e. Bachelor of Fine Art in Sculpture, from Govt. College of Art & Craft, under Calcutta University, Kolkata in 1990. And did Master of Fine Art in Sculpture from Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Shayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat in 1992. I received several prestigious fellowships, grants and awards from Government of India. I participated in numerous camps, workshops, Symposiums and exhibitions including solos, all through in my career. I, myself a life time group member of “THE FRAME”- a Calcutta based Artist Group. I presently reside in Santiniketan and teach as an Associate Professor in Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan since June 2007. I also teach in College of Art, Govt. of NCT of Delhi from December 2000 to May 2007 as a Lecturer in Sculpture Department.

Achievements

Scholarships / Fellowships

  • Lalit Kala Academy Research Grant, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi (1993–94), 
  • National Scholarship under Prof. Shankho Choudhary, Dept. of Culture, Ministry of HRD., Govt of India (1995). 
  • Small Study Research Grant (India) from Nehru Trust of Indian Collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum (1997). 
  • Junior Research Fellowship in Sculpture, Dept. of Culture, Ministry of HRD., Govt. of India (1998 – 2000).

Awards

  • Awarded by Academy of Fine Arts in Sculpture, Calcutta, West-Bengal 1989. 

  • National Award in Sculpture in the 48th National Exhibition of Art by Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, exhibited at National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai 2005. 

  • All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (AIFACS) Award in Drawing in the 78th Annual All India Art Exhibition 2006.

Major Camps/Workshop

Participated in Various National, International and State level camps/workshops resent including:

  • National Artists Camp (Stone Sculpture) at Chandigarh, by Lalit Kala Academi & Chandigarh Industrial Tourism Corporation 2004. 
  • IIT, Kanpur, Design Programme Dept. 2008.
  • Thai-Indian Artist Workshop, at Kala-Bhavana, Santiniketan and at Slipakorn University, Bangkok 2009. 
  • “All India Senior Sculptors Stone Carving Camp 2009”, AIFACS, Rafi Marg, New Delhi. 
  • Dokra Casting Workshop by Regional LKA Kolkata, along with Govt. College of Art & Craft, Agartala, Tripura 2010. 
  • Bangladesh-Indian Artist Workshop on 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Dhaka University, 2011. 
  • Stone Sculpture Camp, by Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore for Open Air Sculpture Park, in Bangalore 2011.  
  • Stone Symposium at MARBLE/marble by MIC, CO. USA 2014. National Stone Carving Camp organised by SCZCC (South Central Zone Cultural Centre), Nagpur, 2017. 
  • National Metal Casting Camp organised by Lalit Kala Academi Regional Centre, Kyatala, Kolkata held at Imphal, Manipur, India, in collaboration with Sharma Art & Craft House, 2017. 
  • Participated National Art Camp/Workshop “AKHI” as a Resource Persons in Sculpture Wing, organised by College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram and Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi at College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram 2018. 
  • National Wood Carving Camp at Sree Vidyanikethan International School Campus, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, organized by Vishnu Manchu Art Foundation (VMAF) 2019.

Major Group Shows

Attended various National, International & State level Group Shows including:

  • 10th Harmony Show organized by The Arts Trust and Reliance Industries Ltd., Mumbai, 2005.
  • Exhibition organized by Hon. President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, 2005.
  • Exhibition of Contemporary Indian & French Artists in India (at Fatehpur Rajasthan, & French Embassy at New Delhi) and 6th District of Paris in France 2006. “Sculptors of India”at Akriti Art Gallery, Kolkata, 2006. 
  • “Measured Cadences” exhibition by artist of Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan,  by Artist Circle at Lokayat Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2008.
  • “Tradition And Modernity” by the artist of Santiniketan, at India Art Gallery, Pune, 2008. Exhibition under Thai-India Art and Cultural Exchange Program, at Kala-Bhavana, Santiniketan and Silpakorn University, Bangkok, 2009. 
  • “Creative Confluence”-15th Asian Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2012. “Celebration 2013 Kolkata” at ICCR. Kolkata, by Prof. Dhiraj Choudhury collaboration with ICCR, Kolkata. 
  • “Samsara” Life-cycle, curetted by ima-foundation, London at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2013. 
  • Renowned Bangladeshi & Indian Artist at Varendra Gallery of Art, Rajshahi, Bangladesh 2014. 
  • Annual Exhibition of THE FRAME at North Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata. 2014