My works are about my journey through life—memories of the past, experiences of the present and premonitions of the future—and how that journey, through its changing landscapes and human characters, generates images that I call inscapes. My subjects arise from very personal experiences and get fermented in my imagination to project an inner vision. I create deep intimate spaces, transitional moments of conscious and unconscious thoughts using both natural and personal imageries. In this endeavor, dark, solid and earthly colors and robust textures play a big role. I employ printmaking, painting, collage and poetry to express my mental state.
My education and growing up in India have as much influence on my art as does my life in Louisiana and in Texas. The philosophy of the India’s national poet Rabindranath Tagore has been a constant inspiration for me—especially his view on the relationship between human beings and their natural surroundings. My interactions and fascinations with the people and the places help me to shape my artistic productions since coming to this country.
I always feel like an outsider in this country; at the same time, being a part of the local community, I also feel like an insider. The small university town of San Marcos, Texas, offers plenty of similarities with my home town, Santiniketan, but it also provides profound contrasts in culture, language and people. From the very beginning my relationship with this place has been marked with a tension and contradictory emotions—a push of alienation and a pull of
deep intimacy. I had a very similar experience in Louisiana where I lived for five years, before moving to Texas. I hope through my art this place will embrace me as its own, or maybe not.
I started my journey of self-exploration through the examination of my real and imagined relationships with space time and people. In my inscapes I articulate all these different emotional tensions for the viewers.