Biography:
I was born in Jabalpur, India. One
of my favourite pastime since my childhood was drawing and painting. I
wanted to be an artist and my inspiration was my grandmother. My both
maternal grandparents were very creative. My grandfather was a writer and my
grandmother was one of the most creative persons I have ever seen. She
created beautiful paintings in oil and watercolors and did many types of
handicrafts. Although she never exhibited her work but she inspired and
taught many women in her neighborhood, family and friends.
I did my fine arts diploma and
graduation from
Bangiya Sangeet Parishad, affiliated to Rabindra Bharati
University, India, in 1997 and 1999. I have taught
Indian Miniature Style
Painting at the
John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington,
in Fall 2002. I
have done the
theme sketch
for
a book of collection of poems
"Rakhite Narili Premjal" by the poet Mr. Anik
Rudra published from Calcutta. I also teach drawing and painting. I am
attached to the Museum of Modern Art with the Ford Family Program, which has
art education programs for children and adults. My other professional
interest includes interior designing. I took professional course in interior
designing from Calcutta and managed self owned interior designing business
for two years in India.
My other interests includes
reading, photography, listening to music, movies and story writing.
At present I am living in the City
of New York with my geologist husband
Dr. Sisir Mondal.
Artist's statement
My paintings are
influenced mostly by the different forms of nature and also by the old
masters. Through the use of expressive, vibrant colors I seek to
portray emotions and passions in my still life, landscape and figure
paintings. To me painting in watercolor and oil color gives the
opportunity for both realistic and impressionistic paintings. I hope each
watercolor and oil painting brings to the viewer an opportunity to dream and
imagine and escape.
I try not to
limit myself to one theme or one style of painting and love to experiment
with different subjects. There is a whole world out there to be explored in
the nature around us and there are many ways to interpret them.
My aim is to be
able to create paintings that gives a positive feeling each time one
looks at it and that is cheerful.
My favorite artists are Jamini Ray, Van Gogh, Rabindranath Tagore, Monet,
Nandalal Bose, Raja Ravi Verma among others. As an artist I am
inspired by every aspect of nature from a tree to a petal.
To become sensitive as an
artist and to appreciate art takes time and effort. I believe that an artist
transfers some of the energy as well as some element of universal energy
into a painting and it is this that makes the original work of art so
valuable.
Method
I use sketches and photographs as my reference for the
paintings. For painting different moods of nature I start drawing with more
than one reference photograph or sketch to understand the perspective and
the values. But my final paintings are not representation of photographs or
the initial sketches that I use to get started with my painting. My
paintings are the representation of my understanding and feelings for the
subjects. Sometimes I do human figures, landscapes and portraits in the
Indian miniature style, the Pat Chitra (folk art of Bengal) style and the
Ajanta cave painting style. I love using bright colors sometimes in their
pure state, especially when I am doing an oil painting.
Deepanjana Mondal
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