8/30/2020 About - Samir Mondal

Artist Samir Mondal's most amazing contribution is a continual revival of

water colour. He has endowed water colours with the status of oils,
projecting a facet of water colour that was never visualized before. The
artist keenly observed the characteristics of oil-painting, noted the inherent
quality of oils, their richness and substance. In his endeavour to include
these elements in water colour, he developed textures and structural
features as if they are oils. Samir Mondal has stood the test of this fantastic
versatility. His water colours have never lost their originality, their
innovativeness and their classic elegance, yet they are truly modern
paintings. An alumnus of Government College of Arts, Kolkata, Mondal has
held numerous solo shows and participated in many important group
exhibitions in major cities around the world.

Below is an excerpt from L'Art de l'Aquarelle, where Samir Mondal speaks

about his changing thought process through his career and his different
styles of work

An Artist’s style reflects his character and identity. I am talking about one’s own individual style, which may refer
to the distinctive visual elements, techniques and methods that typify an individual artist's work, their visual
language as it were; or to the movement or school that an artist is associated with. I also think style is something
one should have: It becomes a commitment to contribute something definite to the art world. Not something an
individual should strive or struggle towards, but should develop with time and become part of one’s character,
just like a distinctive handwriting.

My style of work has evolved, being influenced by events in my life since birth. During my early childhood in rural
Bengal we played and experimented with natural pigments like ash, red clay, flower petals, leaves etc. Mixing
such pigments with water, we made drawings and decorative patterns. Water and pigments have always been a
part of me from the start. Later I moved to Kolkata to pursue higher studies in Government Art College. This was
another big influence in the evolution of my style. Government Art College was a very British institute, so I was
exposed to orthodox watercolour techniques of the British masters. The transparency and the magical three
dimensional aspect of watercolour enthralled me as I began my student life. Landscapes, cityscapes open air
study were the only subjects related to watercolour use. As I progressed through the years in college, I was
exposed to Chinese watercolours with bold brush strokes, Egyptian hieroglyphics with simplified motifs,
prehistoric cave paintings, frescoes from Ajanta Caves in India etc. These made me realise that in contemporary
use of watercolour, it was still very much unexplored, not only in India but the world as a whole. I tried to
experiment by incorporating bolder brush strokes, inspired by the Chinese; also by placing simplified motifs in a
two dimensional plane

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Banalata
This is from the series ‘Dhusar Pandulipi- The Faded Manuscript’, on poems of noted poet Jibanananda Das. I tried to capture the romantic and
surrealistic mood of the poetries in an abstract environment. (56 X 76 cm)

Traditionally watercolours were always characterised by a soft weightless feel and a foggy appearance to create
a soothing illusion of perspective and depth. I tried my best to stay clear of this, and break the traditionalism by
incorporating definite structure and bolder colour to my style. I guess to understand the evolution of my style, it’s
important to understand the very character of watercolour painting. Every brush stroke involves some sort of
modulation and variation in pigment deposition, unlike oil painting which is uniform throughout a stroke. This
character was used to represent outdoor themes and landscapes as close to reality as possible. But today with
a camera, which can truly represent perspective and dimension flawlessly, I thought of moving away from the
traditional application of watercolours and to use the two dimensional space of my paper with motifs and play
with the lack of perspective depths.
During my learning phases, I was overwhelmed by the works of many western greats, from the simple everyday
objects and vibrant colours of Van Gogh to the bold and dynamic visualisation of Robert Rauschenberg. From
impressionist visualizations to Fauvism of Henri Matisse, all these great workers and their works have had a
huge impact in developing my style. None of them used pure watercolour to express themselves. So I tried to
incorporate the modern visual language into a new medium. I tried to use simpler everyday motifs, bolder
structured forms and strokes, compose abstract areas with more detailed subjects in the same plane, use
absurd and vibrant colours, etc. In fact some of my works reflect the treatment of colours and structural quality
associated with oil paintings rather than watercolours, this is one of the conscious efforts to diverge from the
traditional watercolour applications.
Also I tried to experiment with the size of the paintings. I have done some really massive works in watercolours
to give the powerful and dynamic visual appeal one associates with other mediums. My style today involves the
influences of different cultures, themes, styles and techniques that I have been exposed to throughout my
career. They are forever evolving, learning from the medium itself. I love the accidents and unpredictability of the
medium, the happenings from the mixing and merging of the medium beyond our control. I am merely guiding
these processes to a meaningful conclusion.

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8/30/2020 About - Samir Mondal

The Vase #4 She

‘The Vase’ is from the time when I was experimenting with
different motifs, placing two unrelated objects together etc.
Here I also tried to incorporate some two dimensional planes
within lyrical three dimensional compositions.
(76 X56 cm)
This work is from the period when Indian girls started
dominating the international fashion world. I was obsessed
with not only the glamorous girls’ beauty but also their
attitude against conservativeness. I tried to capture this
mood of glory.
(56 X 38 cm)

THE EVOLUTION OF MY PAINTINGS

The future of my works is very much related to how they have evolved. Every day I learn from all that happens
around me, all that happens when I put brush to paper and when exposed to different styles of work. Criticism
from others could lead me to a different style of work. But I believe the biggest deciding factor about the
evolution of my style is the unpredictable nature of the medium. I start out expecting or anticipating a certain
result, but the outcome is sometimes far from what I initially set to achieve. I do not consider this as my failure,
but a positive new knowledge for me. I have incorporated this in my style as well, the unpredictability of
watercolours. The medium itself is creating the work as much as myself. As I said before, watercolour is a very
powerful and interactive medium, when I work I feel at peace in a sort of meditative trance. I enjoy the melody
that it sings to me, the array of tones, the mixing, and the merging; all have a sort magical and spiritual feel to it.
Spirituality may creep into my themes in the near future. I would also like to work something related with my
cultural roots, smaller sized works with more details. Something that I am concerned about is the preservation
and conservation of the art works.

ABSTRACTION AND MYSTERIOUSNESS

I look at a work as an assembling of many abstract forms, some meaningfully detailed and some just random
shapes, and compose them in an abstract totality of the work. Abstraction in totality brings a sense of
mysteriousness and leaves a room for interpretation by the viewer. Inspired by the greats of western art world
and modern urban society, most of my recent works involve consciously juxtaposing absolute unrelated symbols
and motifs, and composing them in a single plane to end in a logical conclusion. I consider my handling of
abstraction and more detailed work as similar to Pop or Trance music, which incorporates sounds from different
worlds to create a whole composition. I love the challenge to unite mismatched motifs and subjects from our
urban society.
I started off watercolours as I was taught in school: that is to use transparent layers and creating three
dimensional illusions of landscapes with wide open skies. These were the basics of the watercolour technique,
which till today has not changed much. As soon as I felt this medium was meant for me, I wanted to experiment
and diverge from the traditional use of watercolours.

In my quest to diverge from the tradition, I started using 2D structured

works instead of the 3D effect of traditional watercolours. This meant I
had to put strong symbols and motifs in a single plane rather than
putting them in perspective. This probably led to the development of
simplified shapes. Simpler shapes meant that the audience would have
fewer stories to interpret and more time to enjoy the play of watercolour.
I minimise the characters in my works so that I can have more time to
play with the colours in the painting. I also like the directness that
simpler motifs and shapes reflect. I use them directly and straight, in the

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8/30/2020 About - Samir Mondal
centre of the composition and use colours and other patterns to break
the monotony. Simpler forms keep me free at times to improvise with
the watercolour medium, rather than the story telling factor and I feel
they give a bold and attractive appeal to the composition.

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MY WORK DICTATES COLOUR CHOICES

I have tried to play and experiment with colours from the very
beginning. Watercolour fascinates me with its versatility, from PAPERS
extremely soft transparency when mixed with water and
Most of my career I used handmade
applied in gentle strokes to extremely bold applications of raw
Indian paper. Later, I experimented with
colour from the tubes. I love using pure, undiluted colours in
Saunders and Whatman watercolour
my works and I hope my works reflect a fresh and vibrant use
papers, which I love. Now I use Arches
of colour. I believe in letting my work guide me and accept the
cold press and rough 300gsm
composition and colours that it demands or dictates. As
watercolour paper.
mentioned earlier, I am a great fan of Fauve works by Henri
Matisse, who proved that it doesn’t matter what colour is used
where, it may be absurd yet poetic at the same time. COLOURS
I prefer to use Camlin (Indian) and
THE USE OF BLACK AND WHITE Windsor and Newton Watercolours.
Academically we were taught never to touch the black and Sometimes I experiment with other
white tubes of watercolour while practicing in this medium. In brands. I like Chinese black sticks for
fact we were asked to throw away these tubes when we black and white drawings. My palette is
bought a new set. The impression then was that black was a never fixed. I start randomly from
dirty colour, which made the transparent medium dirty, while lighter tones, from middle tones or
white mixed with other colours made them duller and added directly with dark tones. I consider
opacity. In my quest to diverge from the traditional school of myself conservative in regard to the
watercolours and to experiment, I discovered that application techniques used. The white is the white
of black gave my works weight and strength. Use of black as of the paper and I don’t use any
black enhances the contrasts and brings out a different chemicals for special effects, no
dimension of other darker shades like crimson, ultramarine, masking fluid etc. Everything is painted
viridian green etc. While the opacity created by adding white, if with just a brush, paint and water.
placed properly, help in enhancing the transparency of the
surrounding colours.

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8/30/2020 About - Samir Mondal

ONE-MAN SHOWS
1982 Basirhat, West Bengal 1998 Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore
1983 Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta 2000 Prithvi art Gallery, Bombay
1984 Basirhat, West Bengal 2000 Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore
1984 Kala Yatra,Madras 2001 Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay
1989 Bajaj Art Gallery, Bombay 2002 Jamaat Art Gallery, Bombay
1989 K. C. Das, Bangalore 2002 Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore
1990 Sophia Duchesne Art Gallery, Bombay 2002 India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
1991 Galerie 88, Calcutta 2003 Art Indus, New Delhi
1991 Jehangir Art gallery, Bombay 2003 Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore
1992 K. C. Das, Bangalore 2003 Amethyst, Chennai ( by Sumukha )
1992 Galerie 88, Calcutta 2004 Jamaat Art Gallery, Bombay
1992 Masterpiece Art Gallery, New Delhi 2004 Shrishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad
1994 Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore 2006 Jamaat Art Gallery, Bombay
1995 Prithvi Art Gallery, Bombay 2007 Ki Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1995 Galerie 88, Calcutta 2008 Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay
1995 Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay 2008 Jamaat Art Gallery, Bombay
1995 Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore 2012 Jamaat Art Gallery, Bombay
1996 Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore 2012 Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore
1997 Galerie 88, Calcutta 2013 Aakriti Art Gallery, Calcutta
1998 Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

National Art Exhibition of Lalit Kala Akademy, New Delhi • Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta • Birla Academy of
Art, Calcutta • AIFACS, New Delhi • A.P.Council of Artists, Hyderabad • West Bengal State Academy •
KalaYatra: Goa - Madras - Bangalore • Lalit Kala Academy: Karnataka - Orissa • Bombay Art Society Centenary
Show • People For Animals: Bombay - Delhi • ‘BOMBAY’ and ‘50 Years of Independence’ by RPG Enterprises •
‘Harmony Shows’ by Reliance group • ‘100 Years of Indian Cinema’ by Lakeeren, Bombay • ‘Watercolours’ by
Gallery Espace, Delhi · ‘Pages from my Diary’ by Sans Tache Art Gallery, Bombay • ‘Celebrations-97’at Napa
Art Gallery, Nepal • ‘Confluence’ at Art Connoisseur Gallery, London and Gallery Asiana, New York organised by
Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore • ‘ Jesus Christ’ at National Gallery of Modern Art, Bombay • Anniversary show of
Jamaat, Bombay • Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore • Art Indus, Delhi • Art Musings, Bombay • ‘Bombay Artists-
Progressive Perspective’ and ‘Self Portrait’ at National Gallery of Modern Art, Bombay • 'Art of Bengal' and
'Works on Paper' by CIMA, Calcutta • Colours on Canvas, Dubai • Pao Art Gallery, Hong Kong • Golden Jubilee
of Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay • Asian Art Fair, Singapore • The Art on Paper Fair at the Royal College of Art,
London • Ki Gallery, Malaysia • The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo • The Royal Watercolour Society, London and
many other group-shows all over the country and abroad.

COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi • Archaeological Museums of Karnataka • RPG Enterprises • Morarjee
Mills • Brooke Bond • K.C.Das, Bangalore • Peerless • Reliance Pvt. Ltd.• Citibank • Calcutta Club • Qwality Inn,
Calcutta • Tata Steel • Birla group of companies • ICI India Ltd. • Benson & Hedges • Rolta India • Ministry of
External Affairs, India • Russian Consulate, Calcutta • Standard Chartered Bank • Office of Star Plus • DSP
Merrill Lynch • Solomon Smith Barney India Ltd. • J P Morgan • and many private collections in India and
abroad.

ART CAMPS AND WORKSHOPS

Children Book Trust, Delhi • Poster for Drama by National School of Drama • Artists in residence -- an Indo-US
workshop on art and science • Workshop by Lalit Kala Akademy, Karnataka • Conducted Watercolour Workshop
organised by Birla Academy, Mumbai • RPG Art Camp at Madh Island, Mumbai • Oberoi Art Camp at Oberoi
Hotel, Mumbai • Monsoon Magic--an art camp by Leela Kempinski at Leela Palace, Goa • Artists Entente, Dubai
• Seminar on ‘Productivity through Creativity’ at Numaligad Oil Refinery, Assam • Media & Methods--workshop
on material behaviour in art, organised by 'the art club', Mumbai • With children for Akanksha Foundation,
Mumbai • Art camp in Dubai • Art camp in Mauritius • Art camp in Australia and Bangkok • Art camp in Kenya •
Art camp in Israel • Art camp in Egypt • Art camp in Russia • Art camp in Morocco • Art camp in China • Art
camp in Japan and other workshops at many art colleges and art institutions.

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AWARDS
Govt. College of Arts, Calcutta -1970, 1972, 1973, 1974 • Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta -1978, 1983 • West
Bengal State Academy -1979, 1983 • AIFACS, New Delhi -1986 • A.P.Council of Artists, Hyderabad –1995 and
others.

copyright © Samir Mondal 2001 | 301 Orion-C,Vasant Galaxy, Bangur Nagar, Goregaon West, Mumbai 400 090, India.
Phone: (+91) (22) 28798694 | email:.mondalsamir@gmail.com

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