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Asit Poddar

Asit Poddar

Asit Poddar

India | 44 Kunstwerke im online-Depot

Was ist Kunst? Es ist die Antwort der kreativen Seele des Menschen auf den Ruf des Wirklichen.

  Rabindranath Tagore, Dichter, Philosoph & Nobelpreisträger

Characteristics and Vita

Poddar was born in Calcutta in 1955 and studied at the Calcutta Art College (focus: painting, design and photography) from 1972. After graduating in 1977, he was awarded a scholarship to the International Animation Institute in Tokyo, where he studied photography and film animation between 1980 and 1982.

The Bombay Art Societyawarded him for his excellentblack-and-white color paintings in 2000. The Indian government honored Poddar for his outstanding work in the visual arts.

Poddar operates on many levels. He is a cosmopolitan, and his extensive travels have taken him to South Asian and European countries and are among the most significant sources of inspiration for his work. The contemplation of the past expands the multidimensionality and is the foundation of his holistic creative process. All sensory impressions, experiences he has gathered, everything that has excited him, everything that has inspired him, everything that has influenced him, shapes his work and is expressed. The continuous transition from past to present is reflected in many of his paintingsand becomes the central, significant element. One can literally feel the silence that he feels on the mountains and in the deep valleys. One glimpses the world as he sees it intellectually and feels it emotionally.

Poddar is a multi-faceted artist, an extraordinary painter, draftsman and watercolorist. His flowing lines and watercolors capture everything he takes in, from the huge, ominous peaks and deep dark canyons in black and white to the bright colors of cities and rivers. In these series of works, human figures are absent. The artistic composition here relies on an uncompromising reduction. Besides landscapes and nature, architecture plays a significant role. Portraits round off Poddar's œuvre.
Furthermore, Poddar convinces as a highly established filmmaker, artistic photographer, printmaker and graphic designer. Numerous publications, illustrations and graphic works for notable figures in the arts, including books on Rabindranath Tagore (poet, philosopher, Nobel laureate) and cover albums for Pt, Ravi Shankar, the Kingston Trio and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

Poddar loves to tell stories, he is a gifted storyteller, a taste. During his college years in Calcutta, he was already very involved photographing landscapes and documenting Indian culture. The India in full frame exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson, which he visited with a friend, led to a critical examination of the work of women who prayed in Kashmir. Poddar said that he could not really see what was special about the picture. After all, he himself had taken many very similar photos. Someone nearby listened with interest and asked if that was really so. Poddar confirmed the accuracy of his statement and invited the stranger to his studio to prove it. The gentleman came along, admired Poddar's work, finally revealed himself as Henri Cartier-Bresson, signed and handed smiling, the somewhat puzzled looking Poddar, the exhibition catalog .


Asit Poddar had many solo and group exhibitions in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, Italy, Austria...

His works are in collections in India, USA, UK, France, Japan, Canada, Korea, Italy, Greece and Austria.

Poddar lives and works in Calcutta.

Warum BURN-IN

BURN-IN brennt nicht nur für Kunst, sondern auch für Storytelling und Heldenepen. Denn Geschichten illustrieren lebendig Inhalte, erwecken sie zu Leben, emotionalisieren , regen zum Nachdenken an und laden zum Dialog ein.

Poddar überzeugt BURN-IN durch seine künstlerische Vielfalt. Er ist Maler, Zeichner, Filmemacher, Fotograf, Illustrator und Designer, global denkend und darüber hinaus auch seinen indischen Wurzeln verhaftet.  Er "paart" Glauben mit Kultur und multilayered Spiritualismus mit ZEN Minimalismus. Er sieht Architektur als ästhetische Manifestation der Zivilisation. Engagiert sich für soziale Projekte (u.a. www.kids-guernica.org, wo er als Kurator fungierte). 

Er ist ein mehrfach preisgekrönter, charismatischer Künstler, der das BURN-IN Portfolio maßgeblich bereichert. 

online Depot

Cyclone Foni
Paintings, 32 x 41 cm
€ 2.500
Calm
Paintings, 32 x 41 cm
€ 2.500
Boats 1
Paintings, 32 x 41 cm
€ 2.500
Varanasi II
Paintings, 32 x 41 cm
€ 2.500

Older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend
Varanasi - the eternal muse

Varanasi or Benares, even Kashi dham, heaven reincarnated on earth to a devout Hindu; the very economy of this city revolves around death and the dying; yet it fascinates, perhaps by this very fact. Fragile yet mystic, this ancient city on the bank of the Ganges has been the muse for many artists and Asit Poddar is no exception.

Poddar's previous exhibition on this city, a contradiction of belief and culture was in 2014.

In this series a distinct shift in style is evident; the colours have diminished over time for more linear darker images, with predominant use of black and minimalistic composition over taken by dark shadows. The series consists of works in sumi ink on Japanese rice paper with few larger pieces of 75 x 135 cm.

The elaborate doorways, arches and the eternal steps of the ghat converging into the river have merged into an oneness that was perhaps not quite there before. Here, multi layered spiritualism has fused with ZEN minimalism with ease for perpetuity reflecting the mysticism of Benaras in the quagmire of the river. 

It would be interesting to watch and see where Poddar takes Varanasi in his next sojourn.

Sayanti Mukherji
Independent writer on art and culture

Solo-Ausstellungen | Auswahl

1995-1999

  • Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kalkutta | Indien
  • Koga Art Museum, Ibaraki |  Japan
  • Kunjeon Art Gallery | South Korea
  • Galerie La-Ruche, Tokyo | Japan

2000-2009

  • Genesis Art Gallery, Kalkutta | Indien
  • Artist Centre, New Delhi | Indien
  • Habitat Centre, New Delhi | Indien
  • Chitrakala Parisath, Bangalore | Indien
  • Right Lines Art Gallery, Bangalore | Indien
  • Chirtakoot Art Gallery, Kalkutta | Indien
  • Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai | Indien
  • Castella Monte| Italien
  • Hacienda, Mumbai | Indien
  • Artworld, Chennai | Indien
  • House of Lords, London | Großbritannien
  • Penzenau Castel, Merano | Italien
  • Gallery G Nagoya | Japan
  • Educatorio della Provvidenza, Turin | Italien
  • Gallery Kanishka, Kalkutta | Indien
  • Apparao Gallery, Chennai | Indien

2010-2015

  • Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai | Indien
  • Serafin Art Gallery, Wien | Österreich
  • Loft of Wiesbauer, Wien | Österreich
  • Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kalkutta | Indien
  • Galerie Time | Kunstraum Wien Mitte, Wien | Österreich
  • Albert Schweitzer Haus, Wien | Österreich

2016-2018

  • Fortuna-Media Art Gallery, Wien | Österreich
  • Galerie Ars Vivendi, Wien | Österreich
  • O.HO Galerie, Wien | Österreich

Gruppen-Ausstellungen 

  • Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi | Indien
  • National Art Fair by LKA | Indien
  • Art Culture Symposium-Taipei Modern Art Gallery | Taiwan
  • Kawanju Biennial-South Korea
  • All India Graphics Show by Cymroza, CIMA Kolkata, Art Today, Delhi | Indien
  • Art Japan Network Grand Show, Japan, Nepal, Italy, Paris
  • Ramburk Festival | Tschechische Republik

Preise & Auszeichnungen

  • 1977 Certificate of Merit from Art College, Kalkutta | Indien
  • 1980 Stipendium  Internationales Animationsinstitut in Tokio | Japan
  • 1998 Senior Fellowship HRD Government of India for outstanding work in Visual Art | Indien
  • 2001 Art Society, Mumbai | Indien

Einladungen zu Vorlesungen, Seminaren & Workshops

  • Florida State University, Florida | USA

  • Otemae University of Education, Osaka| Japan

  • Inchon National University of Education | South Korea

  • Changua National University of Education |Taiwan

  • Poenkai pratten, Athen |Griechenland

  • Educatario della provindenza, Turin | Italien

  • International Art Workshop in Bali Island | Indonesien
  • Poieinkai Prattein Workshop | Griechenland
  • Art Workshop invited by Otemac University, Osaka| Japan
  • E.C.C.M. Symposium, Athen| Griechenland
  • Workshop for peace, UN-Headquarters, Genf | Schweiz
  • Workshop Galerie Continua, Paris | Frankreich

Kuratierungen

  • 1979 International Children year Art Show | Nepal, India & Japan
  • 1995-2010 Kids Guernica International Peace Mural Show | Indien
  • VOICES OF CHILDREN photography and words by Wollongong, University Australia, Indianpart | Australien

Projekte

  • Designte hunderte Musik-Alben ( Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar, Kingston Trio)

  • Zusammenarbeit mit Satyajit Ray’s Unit (Film)

  • Zusammenarbeit mit Utpal Dutta’s drama group P.L.T.

  • Publikationen für James Madisons Art University, Virginia | USA 

  • Publikationen für Rabindranath Tagore, Ram Kinkar, D.P.Roychowdhury, Ganesh Payne, Ganesh Haloi, Shyamal Dutta, Suhash Roy, Nikhil Biswas, Bikash Bhattacharya

  • Fotoarbeiten für das Buch von Raj Bhavan (Kolkata a heritage building)

  • Verschiedene Kurzanimationsfilme