Prasanta Sahu, born in 1968 in Odisha, India, completed his diploma in Electrical Engineering (1987) before enrolling to study art at Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. There, he earned his BFA in painting (1998), followed by a Master’s degree in painting from M.S. University, Baroda (2000), graduating summa cum laude from both universities.
Sahu’s solo shows include Anatomy of a Vegetable: Ruminations on Fragile Ecosystems
as part of the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2022-23 Invited Satellite Programme at Mocha Art
Café, Kochi; ‘Suburban Shadows’ at Emami Art, Kolkata, in 2020, and ‘Blueprint of a City’ at
Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad in 2016.
Sahu has shown widely both within and outside the country and participated in numerous workshops and residencies. Some select participations are All That is Hidden: Mapping Departures in Landscape, Terrains and Geographies, Emami Art, Kolkata, 2024; The Politics of Paper, Emami Art, Kolkata, 2022; Hub India-Maximum Minimum, Artissima International Art Fair of Contemporary Art, Torino, Italy, 2021; Disruptive Confluences at Palazzo Madama, Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Torino and Multitudes and Assemblages at Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino, a three-part museum show jointly curated by Davide Quadrio and Myna Mukherjee, 2021; Asian Higher Fine Arts Education, hosted by Yunnan Provincial Department of Education, Organized by ASEAN-China Arts Colleges Alliance, Yunnan Artists Association, and Yunnan Arts University, 2020; Lockdown Diaries, CIMA art gallery, Kolkata, 2020; Art: Bengal Now, Bengal Contemporary artists, curated by Pranab Ranjan Ray, jointly organised by Gandhara art Gallery, Kolkata and Dhoomimal art Gallery, New Delhi, New Delhi, 2020; Anthology of Anecdotes, Ganges Art Gallery, Kolkata, 2019; Kursi, a group show of sculptures, paintings and installations, Sarjan art Gallery, Baroda, 2019;Blue India Art Asia Art Fair Korea, 2018; Constellations, Bihar Museum, Patna, 2018; Response, a new-media and installation show at Gem Cinema CIMA art gallery, Kolkata, 2018; Postcards, Busan International art Fair, Korea, 2017; 16 young contemporary artists, Karnataka Chithrakala Parisath, Bangalore, 2017; Daegu-India Korean Fine Arts Association South Korea, 2015-2017; 7th Biennial of contemporary Indian art, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, 2017; among many others.
Sahu has been invited as visiting faculty by several universities, including the Faculty of
Fine and Applied Arts, Burapha University, Thailand; University of Dhaka, Bangladesh;
University of Hyderabad, Sarojini Naidu School of Fine Arts and Communication, Hyderabad. Among his other interests is writing poetry in his mother tongue, Oriya. He is a Hindustani classical violinist and an avid biker.
Since 2001, Sahu has been teaching in the Department of Painting at his alma mater, Kala
Bhavana (Faculty of Fine Art), Visva Bharati University.
Prasanta Sahu lives and works in Santiniketan, India.