Soumen Mondal

Soumen Mondal (b.1981, Bagbagan, Sundarbans, West Bengal, India) completed his Bachelor’s of Visual Arts from the Indian College of Arts & Draftsmanship, Rabindra Bharati University in 2005.

Soumen’s works have been exhibited at Ashutosh Art Gallery, Kolkata (2004); Art Age Open Air Art Exhibition, Kolkata (2005-09); Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata (2013). He has participated in group shows at the Academy of Fine Arts (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018); 91st Annual All India Arts Exhibition (AIFACS) (2018); Lalit Kala Akademy, Kolkata (2019); 1st National Tagore Exhibition, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal (2019); Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi (2019); 53rd Birla Annual Art Exhibition, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata (2020); KCC AMI Art Festival, Kolkata (2020); 55th Birla Annual Art Exhibition, Kolkata (2022); CIMA Awards Show, Kolkata (2022); Khoj International Artists’ Association Peers Share 2022.

For Soumen, Sundarbans is not just a tourist place, it’s his birthplace. The low lying deltas of the biggest mangrove forest, accompanied by thousands of meandering streams, creeks, rivers and estuaries have been a major source of inspiration right from his childhood days. The immense natural beauty of the delta, at the confluence of Ganga and Brahmaputra, narrates the story of existence, both of Man and the Wild. Each sphere of the Sundarbans narrates the battle for survival. The coastal erosion, the cyclones followed by tidal surges, and the rising sea level make life a combination of both pain and pleasure narrating the ephemeral nature of time with uncertainties. He tries to capture these uncertainties of time in his artwork. This has inspired him to develop his own art materials using natural sources like the bark of trees, mud, and banana leaves. The use of these materials has helped him express his thoughts about nature, which he has nurtured silently within his artistic mind. The beautiful forest and its ever-changing nature are reflected in his art form, material and aesthetic beauty.

Soumen lives and works in Sonarpur (Jagadishpur), West Bengal, India.