Chittrovanu Mazumdar

Chittrovanu Mazumdar (born 13 October 1956) is a contemporary Indian artist of Bengali-Indian and French descent. Mazumdar has been described as a "conceptual artist" and a "post-structuralist" while some critics consider it difficult to classify his oeuvre into a single artistic tradition or even into any consistent genre of his own. but has also said he generally prefers not to use "a particular word to qualify" his work because it comprises different kinds of media and forms, As of January 2015, he lives and works primarily in Kolkata and is associated with the 1X1 Gallery in Dubai. Major exhibitions of his work have been presented in Dubai, Kolkata, London, Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Rome, Singapore and Salzburg, among other places. His paintings are housed in the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi and in several private collections internationally.

Early life and education Chittrovanu Mazumdar was born into a racially and culturally mixed family of artists and scholars. His mother Marguerite Mazumdar was French and his father, Nirode Mazumdar, a stalwart of 20th Century Indian Modern art and a founding member of the Calcutta Group,

Work Mazumdar began his professional life as a painter. His first solo show was presented in Kolkata in 1985 at the Academy of Fine Arts by Seagull Foundation for the Arts, which went on to present a dozen solo exhibitions by him throughout India over the next decade and a half. In 1991 he became the third artist in history to be invited to present at the Durbar Hall at Victoria Memorial in Kolkata. During this period, he also established his international reputation through major group exhibitions in Asia, Europe, the UAE and the United States. His first solo exhibit outside of India was presented in New York at the Bose Pacia Modern Gallery in 1997.

Since then, Mazumdar's work has been shown in twelve solo exhibitions and thirteen group exhibitions in India and abroad. In 2004, Seagull Foundation for the Arts presented his sprawling, multi-sensory installed environment New Work in an abandoned apartment building in a crowded Kolkata neighbourhood. In 2009, 1x1 Art Gallery of Dubai presented another ambitious project, the critically acclaimed undated: Nightskin. In 2012, Nightskin, which had been specifically tailored to its exhibit space, was adapted for and recreated in a space that comprised Mazudar's Kolkata studio at Ho Chi Minh Sarani and extended into the Harrington Street Arts Centre located on a floor above the studio in the same building (the new iteration of the work was titled ...and undated: Nightskin). Celebrated painter M. F. Hussain, who once described Mazumdar as one of India's "most dynamic younger artists," later said of his work "underlying his many shifts in medium, form and style over the years is a sensual intensity that reaches past the clever and the quick to probe deep layers of the human experience in all its tragi-comic universality – archetype, myth, memory, desire, betrayal, longing, ecstasy, pain."

Poet and art critic Ranjit Hoskote says Mazumdar's work inspires "a visual and conceptual excitement – a heightened, even epiphanic extension of the senses… now rarely felt in exhibitions of contemporary art. In sacrificing conceptual depth for surface flamboyance, in confusing truism with idea, in mistaking fashion for formal progress, many younger Indian artists have lost their way in a labyrinth where each forked path leads to discovery or a dead end. Mazumdar, by contrast, has never lost sight of the vital connection between reflection and practice, self-expression and self-critique; he values hesitancy, the creative rupture of one’s own certitude, over the reckless speed of unmediated production."

Notable works

New Work

undated: Nightskin

Mazumdar's seminal work undated: Nightskin, debuted in Dubai in 2009 and was adapted and recreated as …and undated: Nightskin in Kolkata in 2012. The original Dubai installation was presented in a large warehouse and used the exhibition space and the surrounding desert landscape as elements of the work. The Kolkata edition was housed in Mazudar's studio at Ho Chi Minh Sarani and extended into the Harrington Street Arts Centre located on a floor above the studio.

The exhibition stretched across two floors and included photographs, multimedia installations, tall towers (some of which were covered in lush, textured layers made of fabric), oils leaking out of boxes, and projections of video, light, and sound. One reviewer described a "crate smok[ing] like an overheated engine which might catch fire at any moment, but close inspection reveals the smoke as vapour." One room had stark white walls on which were hung a series of prints titled "One Square Kilometre" showing the decomposing carcass of a calf, photographed over a period of five days. Another room contained "large screens on which streams a restless flow of images and sound, interspersed with text."

Nightskin raises questions about the self, memory, conventions of art, and the significance of artists.

Harris also writes that "Revelation is a particularly pervasive theme of Mazumdar’s installation. Hinged doors conceal imbedded video screens, still photographs and paintings, opening up like medieval icons. Throughout the whole arrangement is the invitation to explore, to touch, to get beneath the skin and peel away the layers, the process every bit as charged as what is uncovered. Soon we are absorbed in the motifs that guide us through Mazumdar’s subconscious mind, mapping his memories with reference to whole panoply of senses."

And what is left unsaid...

The River Mazumdar's installation "the River" was displayed as part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale exhibition of contemporary art in Kochi, Kerala, during the 2016 edition. The program was curated by Artist Sudarshan Shetty, whose vision for the edition was to present works that "create multiple, layered worlds and urge viewers to move between them".

The River (nicknamed "River of Ideas" by the exhibition), is a multi-room exhibit at the Aspinwall House , which features a series of journeys for the viewer, starting with a black metal tunnel "made dangerous with hanging, exposed wires," according to one reviewer, and, in the center of it, a bridge over simulated fires made of incandescent light bulbs. There are rooms with video projections of water, leaves and "decay" on the floor as well as a video of the river Ganga flowing inside of a book.

The work was "inspired by mythical accounts of India as the land of seven rivers" and expresses in a new way, the elements of motion, transition, transience, and memory that are often present in Mazumdar's art.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions 2017 'Undated Nightskin." Mana Contemporary Gallery, Jersey City, New Jersey. 2014 'And what is left unsaid….’ Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO), Curated by Paola Ugolini. 2012 Parcours St German, Paris curated by Anne-Pierre d'Albis, presented by 1x1 Art Gallery 2012 '...and undated: Nightskin', The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata presented by 1 × 1 Art Gallery, Dubai 2010 'Ancient Earth', Apparao Galleries, Chennai in association with 1x1 Art Gallery, Dubai 2009 'undated: Nightskin', 1x1 Art Gallery, Dubai 2006 'Various', Royal Academy of Arts, London presented by Gallerie 88, Kolkata 2005 Bodhi Art, New Delhi 2004 'New Work', Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata 1997 Bose Pacia Modern, New York 1997 'Recent Works', presented by Seagull Foundation for the Arts (SFA), Kolkata at Jehangir art Gallery, Mumbai and Sumukha Art Gallery, Bangalore 1997 'Works on Paper', Seagull Foundation for the Arts (SFA), Kolkata 1994 'Recent Works', organised by Seagull Foundation for the Arts (SFA), Kolkata at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai (with Apparao Art Gallery, Chennai) 1991 Presented by Seagull and Victoria Memorial Board of Trustees, Kolkata at Victoria Memorial Durbar Hall and Sukh Sagar, Kolkata 1989 'Recent Works', Presented by Seagull Foundation, Kolkata at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 1989 'Untitled', presented by Seagull Foundation, Kolkata and The Birla Academy at Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata 1985 'Recent Works', presented by Seagull Foundation at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata

Selected group exhibitions 2016 'the River', presented as "River of Ideas", in the 2016 Kochi-Muziris Biennale exhibition, curated by Sudarshan Shetty. 2012 The Indian Parallax or the Doubling of Happiness curated by Shaheen Mirali, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata 2012 Video Wednesdays II curated by Gayatri Sinha, Gallery Espace, New Delhi 2012 'Reconstructing (White) 3', The Loft, Mumbai 2012 'Terrestrial Bodies', 1 × 1 Art Gallery, Dubai 2011 'Love is a 4 Letter Word', Latitude 28, New Delhi 2011 'The Intuitive: Logic Revisited', from the Osians Collection at The World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland 2011 'Art Stage Singapore', Singapore presented by 1 × 1 Gallery, Dubai 2011 'A Material Difference', Paradox, Singapore 2010 'The Evolution of the Species', Institute of Contemporary Indian Art (ICIA), Mumbai 2010 'Size Matters or Does it?', Part 1 at Latitude 28, New Delhi 2010 'Summer Show 2010', Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata 2009 Project at Inda Art Summit, New Delhi presented by 1 × 1 Art Gallery, Dubai 2009 'Video Wednesday', Gallery Espace, New Delhi 2009 'Elemente Zeit', 1 × 1 Art Gallery, Dubai and Hause Chelsea, Isle of Sylt, Germany 2009 'Recycled', Bose Pacia, Kolkata 2009 'Re-Claim/ Re-Cite/ Re-Cycle', presented by Latitude 28 at Travancore Art Gallery, New Delhi; Bose Pacia, Kolkata 2008 Presented by 1x1 Art Gallery at Art Paris, Abu Dhabi 2008 'November', 1x1 Contemporary, Al Quoz, Dubai 2006 'Altered Realities', Aicon Gallery, Palo Alto 2006 'The New Space', 1 × 1 Art Gallery, Dubai 2005 'Alchemy', Art Musings, Mumbai 2005 Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata 2005 'Change of Address', The Guild, Mumbai 2004 'Sacred Space', organised by RPG at Academy of Art and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai 2004 'Metallic', Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi 2003 'Generation Next', Saffron Art and Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 2003 RPG Collection of Contemporary Bengal Art at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai 2003 'Of Memories, Dreams, Reveries', Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi 2002 'Words and Images', organised by Guild Art Gallery at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai 2001 Saffron Art and Apparao Galleries, Los Angeles 2001 'The Human Factor', Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai 1998-89 'The Search Within: Art Between Implosion and Explosion', Kloster Pernegg, Geras and Bildunshau St. Virgil, Salzburg, Austria 1998 'The Search Within: Art Between Implosion and Explosion', National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi and Mumbai 1993 'Trends and Images', Inaugural Exhibition of Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA) Kolkata 1993 'Shraddha', rehabilitation for the mentally ill on Indian streets, Mumbai 1993 'Wounds', in protest against communal violence, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata 1990 'In celebration of the Calcutta Tercentenary', organised by Birla Academy for Art and Culture, Kolkata 1989 on the theme of Human Rights, by the artists of Bengal. Organised by the Alliance Francaise, Kolkata, at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata 1988 Exhibition for the African National Congress on the occasion of Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday. Presented by Seagull at Calcutta Information Centre, Kolkata 1988 Calcutta Salon d'Automne 1988 Paris Salon d’Artistes Franqaise

Art fairs 2012 Gwanju Art Fair in association with Latitude 28, New Delhi 2011: India Art Summit, 1x1 Art Gallery, New Delhi 2012 India Art Fair, New Delhi presented by 1x1 Art Gallery, Dubai 2011 Art Stage Singapore, 1x1 Art Gallery, Singapore 2009 Contemporary Istanbul, 1x1 Art Gallery, Istanbul 2009 Abu Dhabi Art, 1x1 Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi 2009 Solo project at India Art Summit, New Delhi, 1x1 Art Gallery 2009 Solo project Art Expo India, Mumbai, 1x1 Art Gallery 2009 Untitled, Video longue, India Art Summit, New Delhi 2008 Art Paris, 1x1 Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi

Miscellaneous Mazumdar is frequently involved in publishing experiments and theatre design. He has also been active in art workshops such as Khoj (New Delhi) and Frac Payes de la Loire (France). Mazumdar takes an active interest in animal welfare. He and his wife have a number of rescued dogs that they care for in their home.