Dhrubajyoti Baral: Paintings by Dhrubajyoti Baral, Tempera Painting, Indian Art

Artist Profile

Luminous and soulful, Dhrubajyoti Baral’s paintings are a lyrical fusion of indigenous traditions and contemporary sensibilities. His incandescent almond-eyed men and women are a quaint blend of tribal and modern, much like Baral’s own artistic background which is brewed in an unlikely cocktail of Bengali folk art and Western aesthetics. His influences are varied, including the potters and idol-makers of Krishnanagar - a town in West Bengal where he grew up, Patua art, tribal lore, Hindu mythology and Gustav Klimt. All of these visually diverse and eclectic sources of inspiration are absorbed and distilled to create abstract and free-floating visual narratives that are from everywhere and nowhere, rooted in the present, but also timeless.

Dhrubajyoti Baral’s playful imagination is depicted through dreamy depictions of young lovers, solitary women, and musicians and bards, surrounded by elements of nature. He works with tempera created out of natural pigments, sourcing indigenous ingredients from Eastern India such as shell powder and shola plant extracts. By meticulously texturing and layering his canvases, Baral creates his trademark dreamy hues bringing vivid reds, lustrous yellows and hazy blues together in harmony. The artist believes every work of art is a world in itself, holding in it the emotions and sensibilities of its creator. Assimilated with his indulgent visions, Baral presents his art as a source of rejuvenation from the banality of everyday life.

A graduate of the University of Kolkata with an MVA in Painting, Dhrubajyoti Baral has held solo exhibitions at Crimson Art Gallery, Bengaluru in 2006 and 2008, at Tulika Arts Gallery, Mumbai in 2007 and at Kynkyny Art Gallery, Bangalore in 2012. He has also participated in several group exhibitions in New York, Singapore, Dubai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Dhrubajyoti has won awards such as the Rathin Mitra Award in 2003, Gopal Bomkim Ghosh Memorial Scholarship in 2004 and the Rabindranath Tagore Award in 2005.