By Farhad Hussain
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Farhad Hussain - Marilyn Monroe with Friends - 36 x 48 inches (unframed size)
Acrylic on Canvas, 2020
Inclusive of shipment in roll form.
Style: Farhad Hussain's colourful work that includes drawings and watercolours besides paintings on canvas, features day to day visual experiences of middle-class urban India. He endows his narrative with iconography and personality through his figuration, their posturing, dress and the surrounding imagery. The drama of subtle complexities of human relationships and social environment are grounded with a sense of satire mixed with pathos. Farhad’s colours help enhance the brightness and aura of his paintings while he also partakes elements from traditions such as the formulaic textile patterns of Indian miniatures. His compositions are often set in a familiar drawing room or a social space, playing out with humour and sarcasm, the narrative psychologies of human life and encounters at various levels. This young artist who has also experimented with sculpture has already carved a niche and an instantly recognizable individualistic style befitting his aesthetics and concerns.
Farhad has chosen to use tempera on cloth for his works, the media allowing him to achieve the desired vibrancy of colours. A slow build-up of images and spontaneous flow of colour while balancing colour and composition simultaneously follow structured formatting. This meticulous planning in the composition and layout is the beginning of a process from where onwards it is very spontaneous and intuitive. Another technique used throughout Farhad’s work is the method of applying the colour: dot-by-dot till the entire area is completely covered. Various elements from miniature paintings, Kalighat paintings, Japanese prints and images from mass media are scrutinized, transformed and transferred on to the surface through the artists own style of expression.
About the Artist and his works :
Born: 1975 in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
Education :
2003: B.F.A. in painting from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan,
2005: M.F.A. in painting from M.S. University, Baroda.
Solo Exhibitions :
2009 : Presented by Pundole Art Gallery at Museum Gallery, Mumbai
2008 : ‘After the Theatre of Absurdity’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2007 : Art and Soul, Bombay
2006 : Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara & ‘Recent Paintings’, organized by Chatterjee and Lal at Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai.
Group Exhibitions :
2011: 'Between Seasons', Gallery Beyond, Mumbai; Gallery Sumukha, Chennai; 'Melange', The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata; 'The Narrator, Protagonist and the Other', Indigo Blue Art, Singapore & 'New Documents: New Directions in Documentary Photography', presented by Art Konsult at Alliance Francaise de, Delhi.
2010: 'Holy Now', presented by Religare Arts Initiative, New Delhi at Gallery 27, London; 'Snow', The Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi in collaboration with Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai & 'Symbols and Metaphors', Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata.
2009: 'Vicissitudes of the Constructed Image', Tangerine Art Space, Bangalore; 'The Urbane Records', The Viewing Room, Mumbai; 'With the Best Intentions', presented by Anant Art at Shridharni Gallery, New Delhi & 1x1 Art Gallery, Dubai
2008: 'Review', Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata & 'Baroda: A Tale of Two Cities', (Part II), Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara
2006 ‘Concern’, The Charity Auction Exhibition, Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore; Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore and Hong Kong; Art World, Chennai and Singapore; ‘New Paradigms’, Gallery Threshold, New Delhi & ‘Baroda’s Most Wanted’, The Artist’s Studio, Vadodara
2004: Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara; Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda & Camlin Exhibition, Mumbai
Honours and Awards :
2006: ‘Most Promising Artist’, Runner up, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2004: Nasreen Mohamedi...
Category
2010s Contemporary Kolkata
