BUTTERFLY DREAMS - Seies on paper



BUTTERFLY DREAM 1- Pen & ink on paper

We are all dream chasers. Dreams of variuos hues and colours, scarry or intimidating, soothing or enticing. They all revolve around our life like an invisible universe of its own. Dreams invade our senses and play with it. Torture us to create and challenge our own desires. It releases havoc in our system to challenge the physical world.
Dreamers are there in plenty. But few make their dreams true. Guts, pain, tears, love and hate are the ingredients of a perfect dreamer. One needs them to touch the midas end. In this series of work on paper using pen and ink, I tried to catch that foreplay between man and his dreams, but the outcome is unnown.
The love between man and the unknown takes a beautiful meaning here in the form of a 'Butterfly'. The butterfly appears in all its avataars of a fearsome beauty and sometimes a docile one or an unknown dream, which just being missed by man.

BUTTERFLY DREAM 2, Pen & ink on paper



BUTTERFLY DREAM 4, Pen & ink on paper



BUTTERFLY DREAM 3, Pen & ink on paper

KINDLING EXPRESSIONS - Press Coverage of the group exhibition

PRESS COVERAGE of the KINDLING EXPRESSIONS art exhibition at Gallery Ensign.

ART NEWS - AIFACS Journal

THE STATESMAN - Aruna Bhowmick, Art Critic



KINDLING EXPRESSIONS

Gallery Ensign

presents

KINDLING EXPRESSIONS

An exhibition of artworks by 6 promising artists

Opening preview 21st October, 6.30pm onwards

Exhibition duration: 22nd October to 26th November 2011.

New Delhi: Gallery Ensign presents a group exhibition of artworks by 6 promising artists Bhanu Prakash, Jagadish Dhyan Sreyas, Monika Bijlani, Ravi K, Soghra Khurasani and Soumen Bhowmick. The exhibition entitled ‘Kindling Expressions’ is curated by Seema Subbanna and will be at Gallery Ensign, B-17, Geetanjali Enclave, New Delhi – 110017, from 21st October to 12th November 2011.

Says Seema Subbanna, Exhibition Curator & Director Gallery Ensign: “Kindling is the stage of beginning, it is to inspire, to encourage and to stimulate. Expression is a medium of communication, of thoughts, ideas and feelings. Together, however I perceive them to be a stage where the artists find a route to walk on and a path that can lead them to anything they wish to achieve.”

The exhibition is a culmination of an open call project created by the gallery for emerging artists last summer. After receiving applications from artists across various genres; the chosen artists were selected as they each represent the expression to communicate thoughts, ideas and feelings that the gallery perceives as promising and forth achieving.

While Ravi K and Bhanu Prakash have made their dreams, memories, hues, thoughts and above all, innocence flow in their particularly original, affectation- less labour of love.

Ravi entices his viewers with his synthesis of folk and pictorial elements in objects – animated and inanimate ones. While Bhanu Prakash, who hails from Chattisgarh transports you to the days of innocence, the traditional charm of the village, its earthy fragrance, its golden fields, its peace, tranquility, warmth and just simple life.

Soumen Bhowmick’s works “Clown Head” and “Butterfly Dreams” series look as complicated as they are actually simple. His use of liberal doses of colour goad the viewers to read between the lines. Soumen pushes the envelope by paving a rather different track – by employing symbols that encounter you with their funny-ness, and at the same time introduces to the pain his clowns (also deployed in the butterfly dreams) hide beneath their hideous, toothy grins.

Monika Bijlani’s digital abstracts form out of her concern for environment, hence a fish recurs silently, in a dilemma to find clear water. “Silent Whispers”, “Freedom in captivity”, “Dressed in black” are mainly her environmental concerns though one can draw several meanings out of her multi-layered, neat, symphony with judicious mix of hues. What makes her digital paintings worth watching is their unpretentiousness, sobriety and minimal services taken by colours.

Jagadish Dhyan Sreyas attempts to bring a smile to the viewers by altering the use of five elements and yet make some statements. For instance he utilises fire, earth, water, air and sky in ‘speaking posture’ in his jars which for him is a symbolic of human body, and creating diverse effects. An ambitious astronaut once, who was fast at mathematics and physics, pulls with him the logic of algebra and the fondness for ‘space’ and “solves” his problems as he puts it.

Soghra Khurasani who enriched her bachelors’ degree with masters in printmaking from MSU, Baroda, uses a spectacular blend of traditional means like woodcut prints and etchings and newer mediums likes serigraphy and digital print that lend her mammoth works awe. She manages the large sizes with landscapes, topography and compositions. And she chooses societal oppression to speak her heart.

The exhibition aims to create a platform for artists to express themselves, their medium and their works. And it brings together a perfect blend where canvases, paper works, digital media and print making come together to speak art to the viewer.

Address: Gallery Ensign, B-17, Geetanjali Enclave,

New Delhi – 110017.

Tel: 91 11 46564790 / 64996900, Fax: 91 11 46564790

Email: galleryensign@gmail.com

Website: www.galleryensign.com

BIENNIAL OF ILLUSTRATIONS BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA 2011

Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava

The India Section of the Biennial

The Middle panel shows illustrations done by Soumen Bhowmick of India

Suvidha Mistry, Soumen Bhowmick, Sanjay Sarkar and Ajit Narayanan were the selected Illustrators from India. After 15 years India got selected. Its one of the most prestigious Biennial for Illustrators. My picture book illustrations for BUNBUN AND THE MANGO TREE and TORU NANU AND HIPU written by Manorama Jafa of Khaas Kitaab got selected. PEACE STORY and BHABLOO BEAR'S ADVENTURE illustrated by Suvidha Mistry were displayed there.
The 23rd Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava /BIB/ will start on 2nd September 2011. The festive opening will took place on in the Historic Building of the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava. The competition part of BIB will be presented again in Dom umenia (House of Culture), Nám. SNP 12 as it was the case in the past. Their will take part 44 countries, 356 illustrators with the 2318 illustrations from the 458 books. Except of the competition part of children books illustration originals we traditionally presented the exhibitions of BIB Grand Prix winners of the previous year and the winners of H. CH. Andersen Prize for the year 2010 at the Biennial. In the central Hall of Honour of the House of Culture a large collection of Spanish illustrator Josep Antoni Tássies Penella will be presented at BIB 2011. He was awarded Grand Prix BIB 2009 for his illustrations. We also will present the works of Jutta Bauer from Germany awarded with H. CH. Andersen Prize 2010 for her illustrations. Together with the originals and reproductions of the awarded artists also books and the text abut David Almond from United Kingdom awarded with H. CH. Andersen Prize 2010 for the literature will be presented.

Since 1967, every odd year in Bratislava has been connected with the international juried exhibition of original illustrations of children's books. The Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (BIB) is held under the auspices of UNESCO and IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) and with the support of the SR Ministry of Culture. BIBIANA, international house of art for children, is the principal organizer of the event. The BIB International Jury gives the following prestigious awards: Grand Prix BIB, Golden Apples BIB, Plaques BIB to illustrators and Honorary Mention to a Publishing House. In the past, some more prizes had been granted, namely Golden Plaque BIB, Bronze Plaque BIB and Honorary Mention BIB.
Moreover, an independent Children’s Jury made up of children, former winners of some Slovakia’s nationwide artistic competition, meets to make its own selection and awards an illustrator the BIB Children’s Jury Prize.

The middle panel shows illustrations done by Soumen Bhowmick for the book TORU NANU and HIPU

Illustrations done by Soumen Bhowmick for the book BUNBUN and THE MANGO TREE

Illustrations for BUNBUN and THE MANGO TREE by Soumen Bhowmick

Illustrations for children books by other Indian Illustrators

JOIN MY CIRCUS

Pen and ink on newspaper

Among the most thrilling job in this world, is performing in a circus…the trapeze or maybe the clown with lots of mischief. Or probably the ring master, donning the all too masterly cap of order and submission. Just join my circus, get in and perform. Be the other self of your soul. Challenge the devil or play with destiny. Choices galore!
Clumsy, nauseating, teary, pagan, traumatic, sarcasm, funny…all too obvious words associated with the life of a clown. Cornered from this so called society of sensible individuals. So much to think about and cheer in this ‘CIRCUS’. Caring tears just spilled down my face, touching the ground full of bones. I do care for the clown…for the clown is ME, MYSELF and I. Pampering my senses with the gut wrenching challenges of the trapeze, the swirl of the moment, full of clapping hands later on. Come on, guys lets make this clowning moment of your life the most memorable of all. Throw the dagger into the black hole of despair, pull the trigger of luck, climb the ladder of champions, run the never ending track of freedom, cheer for life, ride on the back of galloping moments, fight with the monster called death. Its all there in this circus of mine…so join now.
Tigers making the most fearful sound of joy will surprise you. Well, they are very amusing in appearance, well dressed, clean shaven, full of style and etiquette's, punctual, harboring none of the dark side of the moon matter. They jostle there way to success. Tampering and manipulating on the rise. They just won’t stop, clearly a case of over indulgence with life. It’s crowded, no doubt but that’s the fun. How to kill or get killed…the deal is very clear. Push through the crowd of self proclaimed clowns and you will see the true one, standing in the corner, ready to cry for you. So just beat the heat of this summer and climb on to this moment of uncertain terms of performing in a CIRCUS!

Pen and ink on paper

Pen and ink on paper

HEAD TALES



Clown Head, pen and ink on paper



We are all Clowns at the End of the Day

So in this crazy world that rings with new daring everyday, there is something to wish for and something to know. In the midst of this chaos, there is that silence and searching for it we all are. Like props and characters in a circus our comedy and tragedy is determined by the role we play in the circus, and while we all a clown might want to be, it isn’t always so.
Soumen’s series of Clown Heads from the Circus of the Absurd is a recollection of the kind of tragedy we all wallow in. There is no dearth of joy, happiness, elation and moments of deep enlightenment, yet we trace our lives on the sorrow we have faced and what sorrow, but what we choose and define it to be.

Like the deafening sound of a steam engine and the honking of many a cars, these images are a deep deep reminder that we live an aimless life. In a fog of unhappiness we find every moment to make our lives sorrowful and even as the clown in a circus is to make merry and laughter, he has painted tears on his cheeks.

What we are within reflects on these images, sorrow, chaos, boundaries, norms and reasons to pin ourselves to unhappiness and really what is this, is this why we are on this planet so green, alive and filled with stunning beauty.
There must be more and there is ample time for amendment, so here are these clown heads reeling with memories of this absurd world, and although deep within there is this pain, we are all clowns at the end of the day.
In distinct tone one must note the detailing with which the artworks reflect the notions of life, which are much like a canvas and we can draw and erase what we like.
In the midst of this circus and the all the absurd we are still all clowns at the end of the day!

* By Shailin Smith, Art Curator and Writer based in New Delhi & Pune.

Clown Head, pen and ink on paper

*CLOWN HEADS

Pen and ink on paper

I started working on this series of drawings on paper based on my personal experiences in various forms. Street urchins forced to perform acts of jugglery in front of the public just to earn a piece of bread (roti). Even doing terribly difficult and fantastic acts of acrobatics. Small kids with an innocent smile on their face doing the impossible. Farmers committing suicide, with debt to follow up by the helpless family. Homeless on the streets of our cities. Migrants with punctured dreams. All unsung souls who die, trying to achieve that minimum sanctity of humanness. They are my inspiration, my ‘CLOWNS’. The golden sword or dagger has its own role to play. It gives judgement. It takes the test of purity. The golden sword is alive, does its own tricks. The clowns are tragic, funny, nauseating, cruel, sad, happy and above all humane. I want to put some questions of important issues through my art. In this series of ‘CLOWN HEADS’, the question of minimum humane existence is dissected in different forms. The clowns are faces among us, seen everyday in different forms and situations.
The series of ‘CLOWN HEADS’ stands on an understanding of daily exploration of our soulless journey towards attaining nothingness. “It’s a small world”, its an old joke, but you wouldn’t want to paint it. Or rather want to paint some crucial moments from its vastness. The ‘CLOWN HEADS’ are visual traces of imperfect frameworks for negotiating the complexity (and perhaps meaninglessness) of existence – a symbolic vastness within the greater vastness of this physical world. It’s a galactic pile-ups of reality – meditating prisms to which someone, somewhere, is still clinging. The elements facilitate engagement at all levels of consciousness, being provocative in nature.

‘CLOWN HEADS’ series is based on our inner turmoil’s and its struggle with various elements, influenced my forces of society, norms of survival, rules of coordinated etiquette’s, economic pitfalls, political lies, back stabbing idiots, race to success…what not may be the right question.

One might ask why only heads…well, the head including the face is the real mirror of our soul. We read hundreds of faces in our daily life. Still we remember few, sometimes none. The head or face strikes you first and has its own story to tell. ‘CLOWN HEADS’ is an assemblage of strange contradictions of contemporary life. Some faces will remind you of the friend you just met on the streets or may be the stranger who just made you laugh with his uncommon acts. Among millions of faces, some are truly memorable, for reasons unknown to us. Just too hard to erase from ones memory. Why we treasure them is truly mysterious. That unknown connection maybe known as human bonding, so prehistoric yet surviving the troubles of our time. This element of mystery make our life naturally liveable. That slight twist of eyebrows, that cunning smile, the pale look, happy faces hiding everything beneath them, the anger blowing hot faces, old and tampered faces and some many of them. Scratched, curved, chiseled, moistured, painted, pampered, injured, glorified and drowned in pain, faces unlimited.

These ‘CLOWN HEADS’ are common faces with uncommon stories carved on them.

Raw in appearance and bold to the core. The colourful apppearance is deceiving to our eyes. Painted to hide something…mysterious. Clown paints his face to appear funny or appropriate for the show. The show is supreme for him, an every day challenge. Here some accessories are part of the show, the golden swords, the trapeze, the umbrella, the bicycle, the arrows, the ball, the ladder, the golden daggers and the golden guns. They keep popping up here and there to test the clown’s faith and to make the show more thrilling. ‘CLOWN HEADS’, simply put are just spontaneous images of raw experiences. Hope and failure, life and death, are spread across the lines and colours of this series of work on paper. The material used is least important. The cause becomes supreme, transforming your routine space and time to a new level.

The clown heads have another aspect to them. The Buddha eyes with dream like aura make you think why peace suddenly. Well the clown is meditating, one with the self. He is vulnerable but determined. He is on the path of self exploration to explore the world in a more divine way. The void in him is taking a form of solace. The monk of his soul is questioning the meaning of worldly encounters. Ready to take on pain with very little effort. Finding the Shangri-La within oneself is the endless journey of all humans.

My clown heads will make you travel through many aspects and feelings of a clown’s (nayak) life during and after the show. It’s for the viewer to explore. Let it be mystified for time to reveal its true meaning.

(*Upcoming Series...on its way!)

*CIRCUS OF THE ABSURD - Part-2

Butterfly Dreams, pen and ink on paper

 This new series is the second phase or part of my earlier series by the same title. During this time lots of new experiences and emotional turmoil’s played its definite role to shape this new range of works on paper. Mainly pen & ink and mixed media. Done over a period of two years, fuelled by innumerous socio-political consequences globally and its impact was dramatic on my work. The contemporary daily upheavals in the Indian scenario, telling instances of helpless souls and their struggle for mere survival. Now the struggle is not internal but with external elements of our society. The tiger here plays the role of the more identifiable face of social evils – Corruption, Terror, Poverty, Deceit, Injustice, Nepotism and Aimless Growth.

Sometimes the images disturb your established norms of Visual acceptance. Well, that’s exactly I want to achieve, shaken and stirred and served raw on a platter of undaunting flow of emotions. The Clown here is me and you, the commonman . Tired by its own conformity and dualism. It tries to break free through the mess, with the use of the golden sword. Trying to force ones way forward, with an endless jest for true liberty. The new man (Clown) emerges out of pain and blood, to claim his rightful place of honour.

Here an amount of movement is created with the images of the butterfly, the symbol of freedom and innocence. It’s truly honest and beautiful, but sometimes it’s nauseatingly repulsive. The butterfly plays with the clown and creates an environment of challenge and tranquility at the same time.

Although it’s all very ABSURD in the fist glance, the path is laid for DREAMS to step out, to shake the hollow regime of DISHONEST Tigers.

Just make way for the CLOWNS!

(*Upcoming Series of works…on its way)





Facing the Devil, pen and ink on paper

   

Celebrating Absurdness, pen and ink on board

NIRVANA

Pain is the path for nirvana.
For its pain which leads my mind to sacrifice,
Neither I nor my soul are full with pain so I long for it.
Pain, for its the road to future and future for me is nirvana.
Tough the soul feels the otherway,
Let me have my nirvana.
Days pass by without any sacrifice or any pain.
I am denied nirvana.
Life seized to exist for me with the idea of attaining it,
I go on without having any expectations,
my last wish is to have nirvana.
On a clear day my soul having any breath to spear any more I attained it, atlast.

DREAM SELLER'S SONG

Do you have dreams to spare,
Do your soul needs a new mould,
for all this queries you need not worry.
I am the new-age dream seller.
Complete bliss assured, without a shade of failure.

No smell of rotten ideas or tamed hopes.
The dreams are all perfect for each and all.
Have some today,
See the world within your soul!

No tears, no deceit, no cries, none to follow.
Only a feeling of soulful happiness,
Without strings of darkness attached.

Dreams known and unknown,
I collect them all.
Cherish them, to sell to you.
Want some now?

Like it or not, we all need them,
To blind ourselves from the glory of darkness.
The dreams are there forever to stay,
For I know how to catch them with my untamed mind.
Need to sell now, for I am the dream seller.
Do you want some now?

ESSENCE OF LIFE

Here I come to you, behold life.
Just chiseled my name onto your path.
Try your luck with life.
She just comes ones,
So make it the best you have.

Pour out your soul to her.
She can heal you.
Half way to my life, found her there.
Wasted my time trying to unlock her heart.

At last, she revealed her heart to me.
Life is just a puzzle, to solve with love.

FALLEN WINGS OF GOD

Flying high through the clouds
I met the angel,
Covered with fragrance of love and solitude.
She asked me my destiny,
For I seemed to be lost with her beauty and oneness.
Destiny, as I know, seized to exist.

Darkness surrounds and pain cries out.
Still a few drops of love surrounds my heart
and the angel knew it,
She is the last solace of my troubled heart.

I just had a few good words from her,
So to console my troubled path.
But the journey
continues, with, pain and uncertainty.
For I am the fallen wings of God.
None care for me, to pick me up and love the pain in my heart.
For I am the fallen wings of God.

By Soumen Bhowmick
©Soumen Bhowmick

UNFORGETTABLE

Remembered by time, is a legacy.
Once in a life time, we all envy that.

Seldom, time pardons us.
being cruel to my destiny is her joy.
Keep me in your dreams, may be,
that will give me solace.

I will wait for you, to turn around
and say those golden words...
Hold my hand through the journey of death.
I fear nothing, for you will be there.

My journey is bound to get over,
any time, less you care.
My Days are painted by your dreams.
Walk along with me.
Come home, to struggle with your feelings of despair.
So unforgettable, you are!

I still remember those eyes of innocence.
Bathed with your glance of love,
felt alive again.
Remember the blue, where you bathed your feelings.
Walking on that pebbled path, on a cold breeze,
The land of high mountains, where you live,
That beautiful valley of yours,
That cool breeze on your eyes.
That warm soothing lips...
I felt so alive, come to my heart.
Or leave my dreams alone, oh, unforgettable!

MY LAST SONG

Dreams, are true sometimes...
Saw her there, touching my face
With her soothing voice.
Felt that old dream on my body.
The warmth of her eyes.

She is there, at the corner of my heart,
Somewhere hidden, with fear of revelation.
Crippled with eternal love for her,
I breath my last song to life.
Just for her, once again.
Not a day passes by,
Without feeling her, within me.

The valleys of love are filled with pain.
Far from her eyes, my song dies.
Deep within me, I cry for her touched words.
Seldom I hear.
Here she comes again to soothe my soul.
She cries with me, for we are one now.

My song filled the air, with smell of innocence.
True, it's just a dream.
A dream so beautiful to fulfill.
Prey to God, let the dream be there, forever...

LONER

MY FRIEND, charcoal on paper

These B&W drawings are my work during the years 1996 to 1999. Simple, bold lines but enigmatic, raw but smooth, that’s how I see these works. An individual who is near to nature and its elements, very calm in his appearance. He is shown at peace with his inner self. More like a monk or saint. But he is lonely. A loner from heart, he needs no company but his own pure self.
All the works have playful poses. It’s very poetic and an aura of romanticism is there. Mainly done in pen and ink on paper. One of the work is done in charcoal and conte on paper. The flowers and birds are enormous, the foliage is highlited with lots of boldness. At that moment I wanted to take a lot of risk and experimented with the forms. Without knowing the outcome of these series, I went on a journey of self exploration.
Testing my strength and weaknesses as an artist. Its one of my important series of works and these body of drawings laid the foundation for my future creations. ‘LONER’, is a an epic told through lines.
* Artist Statement - Soumen Bhowmick.

Brush and ink on paper

Brush and ink on paper

Brush and ink on paper

PRESS COVERAGES

Press coverages of my art in various Indian Magazines, Dailies and Television

NOT TOO CRAFTY, art review - By Georgina Maddox

CIRCUS OF THE ABSURD, exhibition review - By Shailin Smith


SWING Magazine



TIME OUT Magazine

INDIA TODAY Magazine

TEHELKA Magazine

FIRST CITY Magazine

VERSE ON CANVAS Magazine

ART NEWS Journal

TIMES OF INDIA Newspaper

HINDUSTAN TIMES Newspaper

HINDUSTAN TIMES Newspaper

                              My Solo Art Exhibition, CIRCUS OF THE ABSURD

GASSED

BHOPAL GASSED, pen and ink on paper


After 25 years of waiting nothing, absolutely nothing for the BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY victims. Verdict was given in a concocted manner, making it more tragic and painful for the victims of this human error. 1984, I was a school student at that time. I still remember Raghu Rai’s B&W photograph of the buried dead child’s face on the cover of India Today magazine.
Very haunting and horrific picture of modern India. Unborn fetuses were killed and chemically destroyed inside the womb, kept as evidence in laboratory jars. So horrible were their state of deformation that even god will cry for them. Hundreds of people died, deformed in the most horrific way, blinded, their bodies were marked with the most painful memories of a careless and criminal company; UNION CARBIDE. It was a scene from a chemical warfare, played in our own motherland. Cruel joke played by a multinational company on the face of India.
Children, women, some of them pregnant, old people, men and cattle’s were sacrificed at the alter of development. Indians, mostly poor and helpless group of people were punished for no fault of theirs. People screaming for help at the dead hour of night, running, pushing each other, crying. Holocaust revisited!
So much noise was made after this tragic incident, but except for some peanuts in the form of monetary relief, no concrete help was given to the victims.
My responsibility as a creative soul raises few questions through this series of drawings titled ‘GASSED’. Like the Nazis did to the Jews during the World War II, a foreign firm did this to the people of India and the Govt. of India just kept quiet and even helped the main accused,
Warren Anderson of UNION CARBIDE escape from India. But my drawings will speak the rawest language of pain and despair on behalf of millions of Indians. Injustice was done and still continued on the victims of the gas tragedy. Any rational and humane soul will raise his voice against this barbaric act. I sought the way through lines on paper, drawings of the macabre is what you going to observe now.
And let your heart feel and your mind think about this chemically altered face of human beings.



GASSED 1, pen and ink on paper