The thoughts and feelings that an artist bestows on his or her own work are often the clearest window into the soul of the artist.
Sangram Majumdar gave UT a look into his soul this past Thursday, April 7, in his lecture which drew a full auditorium to attendance.
Majumdar is a well established painter, who works primarily from his studio in Brooklyn. His early work consists heavily of still life paintings, as well as realist paintings of people in their every day lives.
However, his work has slowly evolved over the years into something that can only be described as abstract but with studies in a different idea.
For example, Majumdar’s more recent paintings are drawn to give a sense of scale. The size of each piece is purposefully thought of and a piece the size of your head will definitely impart a different feeling than one the size of your body.
Majumdar said that his work is often self-referential, and that he revisits different themes and ideas over and over again in his paintings.
“I am a very circuitous person, in terms of threads that arrive and circle and come back around,” Majumdar said.
Having grown up painting and drawing in Kolkata, India, Majumdar also said that his work often reflects the art and designs that he grew up around. Since his father and grandfather were painters and artists, his life was filled with art from an early age.
As far as where his inspiration comes from, Majumdar said that he is constantly taking photos wherever he goes, and will often get ideas for paintings from those photos. He often travels back to Kolkata and shared a photo of the metal work window in the wall of the room he grew up in.
“It was basically the window I saw through for the first 12 years of my life,” Majumdar said.
The crowded auditorium received Majumdar well, as his jokes rarely failed to land on at least one person in the room. The lecture was mostly casual in nature, and students were encouraged to interrupt with questions they may have.
One student in attendance, Zach Cerci, is also a painter, and a fan of Majumdar’s.
“Well it’s kind of funny because at the very beginning of the lecture, he talked about trying to paint outside, and he talked about this way of trying to control the environment and have this chaotic experience happen,” Cerci said.
“So I think it sort of makes me more aware that there is a thin line between getting in the way of yourself by trying to make things intentional and just letting things happen.”
Sangram Majumdar received an MFA from Indiana University and is a full time painting instructor at The Maryland Institute College of Art.
