"Gajan" by Santanu Debnath
Medium: Watercolour on Paper
Dimension: 29 x 43 in
Year: 2022
About the artwork
‘Gajan' is a folk festival native to rural Bengal. It is an authentic rural performing art based on folk songs, rhymes, Kali dances etc. focusing on Shiva and Parvati which takes place during the last few days of the Bengali year.
According to folktales, the peasant class started the Gajan festival in the hope of getting rain during the scorching summer heat. Here, in this painting, I've tried to represent this fading cultural festival. The lush green lands painted here, brings in light the evergreen nature of the Gajan festival.
About the artist
Born in a village in West Bengal in 1995, Santanu Debnath did his Bachelor’s and master’s in Painting from the Rabindra Bharati University and Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata.
He was the subject of the online solo show The Simple Life at Emami Art, Kolkata and After Cities Fall at Nippon Gallery, Mumbai (2020). He has participated in group shows 100 Yuva Sumbhava, Raza Foundation (2022), Imaginarium at Emami Art, Kolkata (2021), GCAC Annual Exhibition (2019-2021), KCC Art Fair (2019); West Bengal State Academy, Kolkata (2018-19); ICAD Annual Exhibition, Kolkata (2015-2018); group show in the Institute de Chandannagar, Hooghly (2017); among others.
He has won Gita Das Award at GCAC Annual Exhibition (2019) and Certificate of Merit in the West Bengal State Academy Annual Exhibition (2018-19). He is the recipient of the prestigious Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Scholarship (2020-2021).
The artist lives and works in Kolkata, India.