Deepak Kumar

Deepak Kumar (b. 1993, Hajipur, Bihar, India) completed his BFA, 2015 and MFA, 2017 in Painting, College of Art, New Delhi. His work has been exhibited in several group and solo shows across India including at Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi, 2016, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 2017, Chandigarh Lalit Kala, 2017, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, 2020, Gallery 78, Hyderabad, 2020, Terrain.art, New Delhi, 2021, and MASH India at IIC, New Delhi, 2022. 

Additionally, he has been the recipient of the AIFACS Award, 2016, 1st runner up Glenfiddich emerging artist, 2017, and Prafulla State Award, Bihar, 2019. 

Deepak aims to highlight the contrast between development in Delhi and his hamlet in (Bihar) through his art. He also examines the negative repercussions of unchecked urbanisation and how it affects the environment. The city’s ecosystem increasingly becomes out of balance with time. People in his hamlet sowed seeds and anticipated harvest. This stood in a similar fashion to Delhi which anticipated rapid concrete growth. Deepak made an apalling observation where scaffolding, skyscrapers, and pollution replaced frolicking rivers and melodious bird music. This contrast created a shift of unrest and transpired likewise,  in his artworks.

Deepak often found it perplexing that urban structures failed to house birds, leaving them vulnerable to dangers. A stark contrast to his village, where birds sought shelter in trees, ancient houses and environmental ecosystems. Through his craft of creating structures and installations using various materials like wood, steel, iron and cement, Deepak draws inspiration from abandoned locations engulfed by nature. Through his art, he investigates the possibility of coexistence, challenging the viewer to consider what it means to coexist with other living things. He assesses this relationship as perhaps being one of competition for space or a potential symbiotic one.

Deepak Kumar lives and works in New Delhi, India.