IMAGINARIUM 3.0
Date - 14.10.23
Venue – Gallery 1, Ground Floor, Emami Art
About IMAGINARIUM Open Call
IMAGINARIUM 3.0 is the third edition of Emami Art’s Annual Open Call for degree final-year students and young artists who completed post-graduation within the last three years (between 22 to 35 years of age) and self-taught artists (35 years and below as of 30th April 2023). Emami Art actively supports and promotes talented artists across India. Our annual awards, exhibition and residency programmes have provided support, mentorship and a platform for discourse to emerging artists since 2020. An invited panel of eminent jurors selected ten artists for the exhibition and awards, out of which the first three winners will be awarded INR 2.0 Lakh for the first awardee, INR 1.5 Lakh for the second awardee and INR 1.0 Lakh for the third awardee on the opening day of the exhibition.
About IMAGINARIUM 3.0
IMAGINARIUM 3.0 showcases an eclectic selection of works across mediums, styles and forms. The diverse and rich collection of works in the show is an interwoven mesh of strong contemporary imaginations through meaningful expansion and a great sense of innovation. The participating artists Ushnish Mukhopadhyay (First Awardee), Aritra Majumder (Second Awardee), Richa Arya (Third Awardee), Ahalya Rajendran, Ali Nakbhi, Deepak Kumar, Saroj Kumar Badatya, Sheshadev Sagria, Sumon Mondal, Swapna Halder meticulously explore their medium and showcase their most recent works.
Ushnish Mukhopadhyay’s works range from drawings to animated videos with sound to sculptural installations with electric circuits, following an archival logic of citation to explore the dark, violent and morbid perceptions of the phenomenon of death and its imaginative possibilities. Aritra Majumder makes his grids by maintaining a particular geometric format layer after layer and revealing a free-flowing visual, the balance between these two harmonies developing in a manner that traces the existence through splatters, marks, and stains in modern and urban sophistication. Richa Arya's practice is an attempt at a visual articulation of women and vulnerable voices from the margins broadly dealing with gender-based inequalities, patriarchy, and questions in and around the female agency in the light of religious and moral conservatism. Being born and raised in a farming family, Ahalya Rajendran’s paintings narrate the innocent experiences that combine with the most intimate memories of her village. Ali Nakhbi’s visualisation comes from his interaction with his surroundings and the relation between the state of his mind and the state of the environment. Through his art practice, Deepak Kumar explores the consequences of uncontrolled urbanisation and its effects on ecological health and diversity. Saroj Kumar Badatya traces the changes in abandoned places through his woodcut works. He uses both the print and the block as layers of his process. The composition and angles allude to the changing land in multiple ways. Sheshadev Sagria’s works speculate an alternative body and narrate an alternative world of marginalised people. Different philosophies of ‘alienation’ have been crucial for his practice to examine and articulate some of these complexities. Sumon Mondal explores the idea of crowds through various materials and methods, articulating its diversity and characteristics on multiple levels. Swapna Halder’s artworks are powerful, personalised expressions of vulnerabilities. They admit weakness, memory, pain and anxiety in the most captivating ways.
IMAGINARIUM Awards and Exhibition is Emami Art’s annual open call, awards and exhibition for young and budding artists. The third edition of Imaginarium returns with ten talented young artists selected from almost two hundred applicants nationwide. Our annual awards and exhibition programmes have provided support, mentorship and a platform for discourse to emerging artists since 2020. An invited panel of eminent jurors selected ten artists based on their portfolios. This exhibition will provide a good opportunity for art enthusiasts to witness something new and unique in the field of visual arts. I congratulate all the winners and wish them all the best for their journey.
(Says Richa Agarwal, CEO, Emami Art, Kolkata)
We receive the most competitive applications from all over India through the annual IMAGINARIUM open call. After a rigorous and challenging selection process for the third edition, we selected ten outstanding artists for the awards and exhibition. As a curator, it was an intense cognitive exercise in understanding and comprehending the current trends in Indian art. I am fascinated by the confidence and honesty of young artists in expanding their medium, scale and imagination. It also opened a lot of questions regarding pedagogical trends, institutional possibilities and paradigms. I thank all the jurors who gave their priceless insights and suggestions in selecting the winners from a competitive line of applications. I congratulate all the winners for their remarkable work. This will be a great opportunity for the city's art lovers to see the most compelling works by some promising young artists of our country.
(Says Ushmita Sahu, Director and Head Curator, Emami Art, Kolkata)
Short bios of the participating artists
Ushnish Mukhopadhyay
Ushnish Mukhopadhyay graduated with a BFA in Painting from the Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta, in 2016, and in his urge to explore beyond the conventional medium, did his MVA in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 2019. His video art has been screened at numerous national as well as international film and video art festivals such as the Emami Art Experimental Film Festival, Kolkata and the ‘EYE/VIEW x REX Box VII’ in Bern, Switzerland, in 2022, the 2nd edition of ‘Puntomov: Festival Internacional de Video’, Mexico in 2021, among others.
Ushnish is based in and works from Konnagar, Hooghly, in West Bengal.
Aritra Majumder
Aritra Majumder received a Diploma in Electrical Engineering (D.E.E) from Ramakrishna Mission Shilpapitha in 2014, after which he moved on to art and graduated with a BFA in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University in 2019, and a MFA in Painting from Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad in 2021. His work has been displayed at various exhibitions such as ‘Pride of Bengal’, an exhibition dedicated to Mahanayak Uttam Kumar, organised by Art Mikado, Kolkata (2016), the Camlin Art Foundation online exhibition (2018), the Annual Santiniketan Artists Exhibition, at SSVAD, Santiniketan (2019), and The Ravi Jain Foundation Annual Award at Dhoomimal Gallery (2022).
Aritra is currently based in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Richa Arya
Richa Arya graduated with a BFA in Sculpture from Kurukshetra University in 2018 and an MFA in Sculpture from the College of Art at Delhi University in 2020. Over the past few years, her work has been displayed at several group exhibitions across India, including the Young Collective Week, New Delhi (2023) and Space118, Mumbai (2022), and a solo exhibition at Triveni Gallery (2021), supported by Raza Foundation.
Richa has won multiple awards, including the Prafulla Dhanukar All India Merit Award (2021) and the 8th Woman Artscape Merit Award (2019).
Ahalya Rajendran
Ahalya Rajendran completed her BFA in painting from the Government College of Fine Arts, Thrissur, Kerala (2019) and an MVA in painting at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (2021). Her recent participations include ‘Embark’ – an annual exhibition by ARK Foundation, Vadodara (2023); ‘Deconstructed Landscape’ at LATITUDE 28, New Delhi and ‘Awakening’ at NUGA Art House, London (2022); ‘All That is Life’, curated by Saloni Doshi at Space 118 Gallery, Mumbai and ‘Lokame Tharavadu’ (The World is One Family) curated by Bose Krishnamachari (2021); and the Kochi Muziris Students Biennale (2018 and 2021).
Ahalya is the recipient of the Nasreen Mohamedi Scholarship Award, MSU Fine Arts, Baroda (2019), and currently lives and continues her studio practice in Baroda.
Ali Nakbhi
Ali Nakhbi graduated with a BFA and an MFA in Painting from the Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta, in 2021 and 2023, respectively. He has been a part of various workshops and exhibitions, including the Painting Exhibition and Camp at Government College of Art & Craft organised by the Department of Visual Art of Kannada University (2019), 55th Annual Exhibition of the Birla Academy of Art & Culture (2022).
Ali is the recipient of several scholarships, including the Rashbihari Dutta Memorial Scholarship, the Ajay Bankim Memorial Scholarship, and the Rabindranath Tagore Award in the annual exhibitions of Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta, in 2019, 2022, and 2023, respectively.
Deepak Kumar
Deepak Kumar graduated with a BFA and an MFA in Painting from the College of Art at Delhi University, New Delhi, in 2015 and 2017, respectively. He holds a Diploma in Graphic Design & Creative Art & Design from Arena Animation Academy, New Delhi, received in 2010.
He has exhibited at institutions across the country – including the MASH Young Artists’ Exhibition at IIC, New Delhi (2022), Terrain Offline at Bikaner House, New Delhi (2021), exhibitions at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata (2020), AIFACS Gallery, New Delhi (2017), and Dhoomimal Gallery, Delhi (2016), among several others. Deepak was awarded the Prafulla State Art Award in 2019, and in 2017, he was the 1st runner-up for the Glenfiddich Emerging Artist. Some of his works are in the Reserve Bank of India collection.
Saroj Kumar Badatya
Swaroj Kumar Badatya graduated with a BVA in Printmaking from the Government College of Art & Crafts, Khallikote, under Utkal University of Culture, Odisha (2017) and an MFA in Printmaking from S.N. School of Arts & Communication under the University of Hyderabad, Telangana(2019).
He has presented his work at exhibitions such as the Annual Exhibitions on “Form & Space” by GCAC, Khallikote at Lalit Kala Akademi Regional Center, Bhubaneswar(2015), and the Annual Exhibition of S.N. School Arts & Communication, Telangana(2019). He has participated in other exhibitions, such as the 4th Basudha Art Festival, Bhubaneswar(2016), and Pedagogical Clutch, an online group exhibition organised by the Hyderabad Literary Festival, Hyderabad (2021). In 2013, he was awarded the Jajpur Chitrakala Akademy Award and won the IPCA MFA Scholarship Award in 2017.
Sheshadev Sagria
Sheshadev Sagria graduated with a BVA from the Government College of Art & Crafts Khallikote, Bhubaneswar (2017) and an MVA in Printmaking from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara (2019). He has exhibited in various exhibitions such as the final show of MVA II (Graphics) at Vadodara and ‘Alap’, a group show at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, and ‘Pushing Print’, curated by Dr Bess Frimodig at Art Buzz Studio, New Delhi (2019); the Kochi Muziris Students Biennale in 2014, 2016, and 2018 respectively, and ‘Embark III’, an online show at Gallery Ark, Vadodara (2020).
Sheshadev was awarded the Manorama Young Printmaker Award (2019), and he won the INLAKS Fine Art Award(2023).
Sumon Mondal
Suman Modal graduated with a BFA and an MFA with a specialisation in textiles from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, in 2020 and 2022, respectively. He presented his work at exhibitions such as the International Fiber Arts of Time Exhibition at Nandan Art Gallery, Santiniketan and a group exhibition at Lalit Kala Akademi of Fine Arts, Delhi (2022).
Harbouring a deep interest in crowds of people and making this the subject of his work, Sumon currently works from and is based in Santiniketan.
Swapna Halder
Swapna Halder graduated with a BFA from The Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship in 2021 and an MFA from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, in 2023.
She was part of various exhibitions and festivals, such as the ICAD college exhibitions in 2017, 2018, and 2019, Behala Art Festival (2019), a group online exhibition by VUSAWTHIS.ART, USA(2020), Beyond Binaries: Sensing Art through Queer Lensing – an online exhibition by Kolkata Centre for Creativity(2021), the 55th Annual Exhibition of Birla Art and Culture, Kolkata(2021), and a group show at Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi(2022).
Short Bios of the Jurors
Jagdip Jagpal is an exhibition maker and founder of Silvia’s Mother, a gallery that supports artists from the global majority. Before moving to India in 2017 to revamp the India Art Fair, she worked with Tate, The Whitworth and New Art Exchange. She currently Chairs UP Projects, a not-for-profit that curates and commissions public art.
Mario D’Souza is a curator and writer based between Goa and Kochi, India. He is the Director of Programmes at the Kochi Biennale Foundation and was on the curatorial team for the 5th edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2022). He is also a resident curator at HH Art Spaces Goa. He was formerly the curator at Khoj International Artists’ Association, New Delhi.
Mithu Sen works fundamentally as a performer, tangling with the politics of language, disciplining of bodies, conventions of society, and polite impositions of the art world. She has exhibited in major international fairs and shows, including Sharjah Biennale 15, UAE (2023); Sonsbeek 20-24, Arnhem, Netherlands (2021); Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2018) and Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg (2018). She recently had her major survey show at ACCA, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Paula Sengupta is an artist, academic, art writer and curator based in Kolkata. Graduating from the College of Art, New Delhi, followed by MFA and PhD in Printmaking from Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, she is currently the Head of the Department of Graphics-Printmaking at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. She taught as Guest Faculty at the NIFT, Kolkata, from 1999-2003. She is a member of the Board of Studies at the Department of Visual Art, Kalyani University; a member of the Board of Governors at the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong; and secretary of the artists’ initiative, Khoj Kolkata.
Ushmita Sahu, the Director and Head Curator of Emami Art, has worked as an artist, independent curator, art writer and scholar for several years before joining Emami Art in 2021 and has numerous national and international projects to her credit. She has participated in seminars, symposiums and talk series at several institutes, including the Victoria and Albert Museum London. She is a recipient of the India Foundation for the Arts research grant for her work on the modernist artist-designer Riten Mozumdar.