ANILKUMAR: (Born in Kanhangad; age 25. Second-year student, MFA Painting, M S University, Baroda): “Sharing a few days with stalwarts like Alex Mathew, Rajan M. Krishnan, Zakir Hussain, Bhagyanthan among others is an incredibly rewarding experience. We are striving to learn more about image making, compositions…and for me, the medium and theme are secondary issues.”

MOUSUMI BISWAS: (Born in Kolkata, 1978; Master Degree in Fine Arts (Painting) from Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan): “I am used to working with oil on canvas. Here, it’s acrylic. I believe that one work cannot define an artist. There’s a continuation of visual language; it’s like a journey.”

BHAGYANATH C: (Masters from Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communication, Central University Hyderabad): “I’m on a self-dialogue mode. Trying to convince myself about my own existential angst. I would like to explore the possibility of ‘body art’ – especially folkloric, ritualistic images like Theyyam from my own native land – and interactive video art combined with elements of performing art. There’s a rich treasure trove of traditional oral narratives to fall back on when you search for contemporary social idioms.”

URMILA NAIK K: (Bangalore, born in 1978. MFA in Printmaking, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan): “I’m looking for architectural patterns, shadows, distorted forms. You can see in my canvas repetitions of whatever I see, things like the paved tile pattern here at the Vythiri cottages that usually we don’t observe or absorb.”

T R SUNIL LAL: (Born in 1974, Wayanad. NDFA in Painting, Government College of Fine Arts, Thrissur; Postgraduate Diploma in Printmaking, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan): “Restarting my painting from where I stopped three years ago. Moving on from the subtle eroticism of varying hairstyles, dwelling on warm, intimate feelings and reaching out to the feminine, esoteric aspects of cross-dressing.”

PIYALI GHOSH: (Born in Kolkata, based at Baroda. MVA in Painting from Faculty of Fine Arts, M S University, Baroda):
“I love to play with intricate decorative lines, strokes and layers. Bright, rich pigment and matt effect of tempera medium helps in exploring my visual language. My recent works reflect my attempts to retell Bengali folk tales in a modern, urban context. Here, too, I’m working on such a tangent, though the medium is acrylic.”

SAPTARSHI NASKAR: (Born in 1979, Kolkata; based in New Delhi. Master Degree in Fine Arts (Painting), Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan): “Here is another extension of my organic-inorganic fusion concept. I happen to believe that we can go from photorealism to real abstraction – feelings.  When art work is related to human nature, the primary language is realism. It comes very close to society.”

REJI ARACKAL: (Born in 1979, Wayanad. MFA Painting student at Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan): “I’ve always been obsessed with huge forms: massive rocks and hills of my native land; plump, wholesome feminine shapes; warm, pendulous udders and teats…it’s a natural affinity. There’s nothing decorative about my art.”

RUPEL DAVE: (Ahmedabad, born in 1982. Postgraduate Diploma in Painting from M S University, Baroda): “Primarily, I’m interested in sexuality, sensuality, nudity. I work on lungi, often imprinting nude bodies on it, superimposing vaginal or phallic silhouettes on the repetitive, graphic pattern of lungi. Here, I’m experimenting with acrylic on canvas, maybe more subtle than provocative.”

SUJITH S N: (Born in 1980, Palakkad. MFA student, Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communication, Central University Hyderabad): “My prime objective is to find my own idiom - a visual language and narrative that is purely mine. The architectural references that I’ve envisaged here have something of traditional Tamilnadu motifs. And as for the special ambience of this camp, it’s such a delight to interact with well-established contemporary artists and representatives from various schools in the country.” 

NILESH PRAKASH SHAHARKAR: (Born in 1980, Nasik. Based in Mumbai. Master of Fine Arts, Sir J J School of Art, Mumbai; Specialisation in Mural Painting): “Urban landscape is my domain. Linear lines of architecture. Space is always my challenge. I would like to create virtual space from real space, interfacing form and space.”

SUJITH K S: (Born in 1982, Moothakunnam. MFA Sculpture student, College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram): “Subtle humor is hidden in my narratives. It’s minimalistic too. Here, when I depict these monkeys frolicking in a lush green jungle backdrop, I’m actually taunting my viewer to immediately recall Raja Ravi Varma’s work, “There Comes Papa,” and at the same time, raising very fundamental question, like “Where is your father?” The hint is something deeper, about extinction of Man.”

VASVI OZA: (Born in 1983, Ahmedabad. MFA Painting student, M S University, Baroda): “My work formally deals with the language of landscape which is associated with different objects and elements coming together in a new space. Here, in this acrylic work on canvas, through these images of a jackfruit, houses and coconut trees and the layers and stripes of colours, I’m exploring a different kind of space.”

ANASUYA PRODHAN: (Born in 1979, Murshidabad. MFA in Painting, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. Now based in Baroda): “My women are characterised in dark grey tones, with a bright, fluorescent backdrop. I am concerned about the gender issues, the problems of women. The basket that you see on this canvas is allegorical, it’s a cage. I use every-day images, like kitchen utensils, a veil, a Gandhi cap to speak about our social environment, and explore my self-image as well.”

NEHA TURAKHIA: (Born in 1984, Baroda. MA Painting student, M S University, Baroda): “In cityscapes, my architectural references have certain abstract quality; they are minimalistic. I have been photographing windows, openings, textural nuances, light falling on walls, shades and shadows, and someday I’ll come back to these observed images. Usually I work with oil on canvas; here, when I use acrylic, I’m exploring a new medium. Something comes out accidentally.”

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