BEST WISHES FOR 2016 FROM V

MANCOW

MANCOW, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

A series of drawings on paper, to support and raise voice against the recent incidents of intolerance and communal killings in India. My art to support all those intellectuals and writers who got killed and threatened for their righteous thoughts. Terrorising free thinking citizens and even killing them is a dangerous fascist development in our society. with every passing day the is getting squeezed down by intolerance. Religious belief, food, dressing and even language intolerable to the narrow minded zealots in this world. Our way of living is questioned, ridiculed and even attacked by a few handful of murderers and so-called upholders of faith. Individual's ideas and speech is getting crushed under the nefarious regimes.

This series of drawings, are there to support freedom of expression in the world and specially in India. The recent (2016) Dadri brutal lynching of a 52-year-old blacksmith Mohammad Akhlaq on suspicion that he had killed and eaten a calf, is also the prime source of this drawings. What an individual eats or wears or believe in is not to be politicised. Let alone to be a cause of death. Why a man should be killed or a rationalist to be murdered for his food and thoughts. Freedom to life and speech is an individuals' right in any democratic setup. Are we turning into a barbaric state of dumb headed morons. Murderers are respected and elected to rule us. Where are we heading?

Kill any body who is different, who stands on his or her own ground of beliefs and freedom. Kill the very idea of democracy, kill every bit of sanity around you. Kill the soul and the free thinking mind. The terror is spreading deep in our society. The entire nation is living in fear. Isolation of beliefs and fear of ban is running high. Religion and caste still divide us in India. They are used as tools of divisive politics by the political masters. The deteriorating political environment in India drives me to create these drawings as a social visual commentary.

An "essay in lines" to awaken the ignorant.

IN PIEC, pen and ink on paper, by : Soumen Bhowmick, 2015

IN PEACE, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

DEMOCRACY, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

BAN HUMANITY, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

HATERAJ, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

KILL THE VOICE, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

LEAVE US ALONE, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

EQUAL IN DEATH, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

GIVE TONGUE, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

NO NAME FOR BONES, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

CAN I EXIST, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

CAN YOU BAN LIFE, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

SILLY TIMES, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

SAVE THE MEAT, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

FALTU, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

WIZARD OF HATE, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

DEBATE, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

STITCHED, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

DEMOCRAZY, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2016

MANDIR=MASJID, pen and ink on paper, by Soumen Bhowmick 2015

AIFACS ART CAMP - 2015 New Delhi

THE GREAT ESCAPE, acrylic on canvas, 4 X 3 feet, Artist : Soumen Bhowmick, 2015

Art Camp organised by AIFACS at their Delhi center. Senior and Junior artists from different parts of India were invited to participate in this Art Camp for three days. Held between March 11 to 13, 2015. 

Had painted one canvas of 4X3 feet. Great gathering of young and seasoned artists at one place. We shared our ideas and views on different aspects of life in general. The stipulated time period was one of the factors to really inspire me to go more a work of this style and treatment. The work of mine is full of action. I felt the urge to be very spontaneous in my approach with colours and lines.

Finally there was an exhibition of the painted works at AIFACS gallery, New Delhi.

Soumen with his canvas

I really started working on my canvas after one hour of getting the canvas. Drawn a sketch of the image on a sketch book. 

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CONTRAST GROUP EXHIBITION - LALIT KALA AKADEMI, Delhi 2011

This video is documentation of my (Soumen Bhowmick) group exhibition with Manoj Paswan, Lalit Bhartiya, Arun Chatterjee and Sangeeta Murthy at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in 2011. Great footfall and response from general public. The collection of work on display was truly in contrast to each other. Varied ideas and emotions, expressed on paper, canvas and wrought iron sculptures.

ART CAMP - AIFACS, New Delhi 2015

Art Camp organised by AIFACS at their Delhi center. Senior and Junior artits from all parts of India were invited to participate in this Art Camp for three days. Held between March 11 to 13, 2015. Had painted one canvas of 4X3 feet. Great gathering of young and seasoned artists at one place. We shared our ideas and views on different aspects of life in general.

Finally there was an exhibition of the painted works at AIFACS gallery, New Delhi.

SOUMEN'S JOURNEY WITH NGMA, DELHI

My  journey as an art instructor since 2009 with NGMA, Delhi.
The entire range of my expertise is covered here. One can see a wide range
of creative art done by children of middle age group. The young kids are amazing
with their ideas as well as with their materials.
I as an art instructor had a great time all these years.

Its a journey of visual adventures.

CIRCUS OF THE ABSURD - CATALOG

I have tried to explore the strange relationship between our inner soul which is pure and divine,
and the physical world in which circumstantial forces are at play and dilemmas abound.
Sometimes a feeling of despair overwhelms us, and sometimes our inner strength and truth wins.
It seems as though sentiments of lust, anger, fear and envy have taken physical forms and exist amidst us.
In this series of works, there are clowns performing various acts in a circus, along with four tigers.

These tigers personify, lust, anger, fear and jealousy. The clowns and the tigers are continuously in conflict with each other. The clowns have a divine soul and truth to save them. The tigers are heartless, selfish and materialistic, although they have a royal presence. Sometimes they kill the tigers during the show and sometimes the tigers kill them. It’s an ongoing show at the “Circus of the Absurd”, seasoned with a tinge of reality and satire; a comment on our present social setup.

Cities are being destroyed; faith is being plundered. Its all part of the show. The tigers play with our innocence at every step of life. Sometimes they impersonate the clown to deceive us, but the deception cannot last long and the clown takes over again with the help of the golden sword. The golden sword symbolises purity, truth and divinity. During this ongoing power play, the circus in itself becomes infused with strong emotions. I have tried to capture all that in this series of work.

Characters of Skeleton (personifying both birth and death), Sadhus, beggars, girl child, dogs, horses and snake appear with the clowns during the show. Gradually the performance overwhelms the senses and itself becomes reality. Sometimes the clown wrestles with the skeleton, as if trying to overcome death and solitude, like we all do in our life time. In contradiction, the skeleton also clashes with the tigers, showing an end to the dilemmas of mankind.

There are other symbols in my paintings: a boat to show homeland and our place in this world.
Its made of wood to depict our vulnerability. There are wheels depicting instability. I have shown flying daggers or daggers on a trapeze, always hanging on our heads. They depict the uncertainty of life and the impending end to all life.

At most times the clown overcomes the tigers, overcomes his sorrow and faith wins at the end.
It’s the victory of Goodness! The “Circus of the Absurd” is the circus we all live in.
Fantasy worlds and reality overlap and intermingle here, and are sometimes inseparable.

HEAD TALE CATALOG - 2014

This is my second solo exhibition in Delhi. the title of the exhibition was HEAD TALE.
I took all the pain to organise this show at Triveni Gallery, New Delhi in 2014.
Great footfall and appreciation in media as well. Here in this catalog one can enjoy
most of the works exhibited during the exhibition.

I hope you will enjoy the works on paper. Most of the works were sold out.
I still have few of them with me. If you want to collect any of this works, please do contact me.
My studio is in Faridabad (Delhi NCR, India).
You can call me at +91-9810661959.

SUMMER ART CARNIVAL 2011 - NGMA, New Delhi

SUMMER ART CARNIVAL 2011, held at National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi.
In this particular video I captured the works done on paper by the medium age group children. They have drawn and painted with complete freedom and honesty.I was the instructor for this particular group of young creative’s. I am conducting the Summer Art Workshops with NGMA since 2009. Over the years the journey has been a self exploration for me as well.

Every day is a new challenge. With hundreds of innocent and equally tough questions put across by these young participants, keep one’s mind absolutely agile. All the paintings, drawings, collages and creations out of waste were done on the spot for ten continuous days. It was a great learning process for me also. More than the kids I learned a lot from them. Their innocent handling of colours and forms amazed me. The spontaneity of young minds is best used while creating art. When the kids participate in groups, their competitive attitude and sharing of ideas increases manifolds. Group activities like creating objects of art out of waste material; instill a feeling of openness and confidence in the child.

The group of children learns to use various materials and methods of art, like; watercolor, acrylic, soft pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, pen and ink, relief work, uses of typography, collage making, importance of colour, various forms, textures, basic printmaking, basic mask making, cartooning, creating art book, sketching, object drawing and creating objects of art out of waste material. I try my best to inculcate the concept of experimentation and art with complete freedom.

SUMMER ART CARNIVAL - NGMA, New Delhi

The Summer Art Workshop for children of various ages held by National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi every year during the Summer holidays of students, is a great effort and initiative to engage young minds with art and its various nuances. NGMA engages professional artists as instructors to conduct the art workshops at its Delhi premises.
The workshop is a wonderful creative journey for all the participants including the instructors. As for myself, I have learned more from the kids than anybody else. Their simplicity of thought, amazes me till now.

Soumen Bhowmick conducting the Summer Art Carnival, 2015 at NGMA.

Sharing my knowledge of drawing, painting, ideating, collage making, best out of waste, cartooning and illustration with kids is always a pleasurable experience. The innocent queries on art by these young geniuses, keeps my mind young forever and agile at the same time.I am conducting the Summer Art Workshops with NGMA since 2009. Over the years the journey has been a self exploration for me as well.

Every day is a new challenge. With hundreds of innocent and equally tough questions put across by these young participants, keep one’s mind absolutely agile. All the paintings, drawings, collages and creations out of waste were done on the spot for ten continuous days. It was a great learning process for me also. More than the kids I learned a lot from them. Their innocent handling of colours and forms amazed me. The spontaneity of young minds is best used while creating art. When the kids participate in groups, their competitive attitude and sharing of ideas increases manifolds. Group activities like creating objects of art out of waste material; instill a feeling of openness and confidence in the child.

The group of children learns to use various materials and methods of art, like; watercolor, acrylic, soft pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, pen and ink, relief work, uses of typography, collage making, importance of colour, various forms, textures, basic printmaking, basic mask making, cartooning, creating art book, sketching, object drawing and creating objects of art out of waste material. I try my best to inculcate the concept of experimentation and art with complete freedom.

One has to initiate the young guns into the known and the unknown spheres of the art within a short span of 10 days only. Its an absolute challenge. To keep these kids engaged for 2 hours daily is a masterly job. I try not to teach, but to guide them only. Need not be an over powering entity to make each one of the participants a creative genius. Just let them relax and enjoy art at their own pace. But do guide them whenever you feel its needed.

Taking a group photograph of the participants is always a big challenge. Firstly they are always trying to do some mischief in front of the camera and their bindaas moments are very difficult to synchronize. But finally I achieved to capture the entire group of young talents. Some times the students themselves ask for the group photograph. They want the spirit of the team to be captured forever.

Some of the works done on paper by students from various years of the art workshop. Not in sequence of years, but never the less it shows the creativity of the participants.