Tag: Basu Kumar

Basu Kumar hails from the Andaman-Nicobar Islands. ‘Nature and art’ complement each other, this island has taught Basu this fact very well. Born (1965) and brought up here, Basu’s life has revolved around the sea-nature of this island. As a result, the agility (and roar) of the sea and the human pain there can be felt in his paintings. Boats are a means of life here. They shake him, and become a part of his canvas. The painful faces of men emerge from charcoal. Perhaps like those Gorakhpuriya women of ‘Amrita Sharegil’ or these who fight the battle of life with themselves. Pain is not only a part of women?

In most of his paintings, there is a diversity of medium. Perhaps it is his compulsion to work confined to a medium, or it takes him towards experimentation where the overall effect of the painting becomes more important than the medium. In most of his works, the colours seem to expand their density gradually from darkness to light. Basu says about his subject matter – “The world starts to settle on a blank canvas from the sloppy ships frolicking in the sea or from the shapes forming and disappearing in the clouds or from the velvety moss that grows like green on the concrete walls in the rain, from where the colours and lines move with me, and from the restless stories blinking in the row of boats…”
Basu received his art education from Lucknow Kala Mahavidyalaya, from where he received the degree of BFA (Fine Arts) in the year 1993. This college has a specialty that most of the famous painters coming out of this college have a great liking for watercolors along with oil paintings. Basu is no exception to this.

Basu has worked on the Junior Fellowship of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Along with being an active member of many literary and theatre organizations, he has also edited the magazine ‘Dastak’.

Basu is not only a painter but also a poet and playwright. His poems and plays keep getting broadcasted on Akashvani, Doordarshan etc. In his creative career spanning over three decades, his paintings have been exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions and he has also been awarded several prestigious awards.