ABOUT
@bu_graphicdesign
@bostonpainting
@pmp.bu
@bostonsculpture
@buvisualnarrative
he/him
Sayak MitraJIJÑĀSĀ
The crisscrossing threads of my identity as both a Bengali Indian and a conditional resident of the United States of America unfurl and entangle conventional forms of artistic knowledge. Through my paintings and installations, I assemble fragments of my life, past and present, to describe the breadth of my multicultural experience and the world I live in.
In my triptych, The Ganges, comprised of three 4 × 8 foot plywood panels, I integrate visual vernacular with autobiographical annotations and painted remarks. In my artistic practice, I mine symbols from packaging materials and the stamped markings on substrates, which I leave intact, collage onto the surface, or replicate through digital transfers. Signs are important to me because they manifest both images and information. I have made paintings that illusionistically reproduce signage and the graffiti that covers them. In my composite assemblages, I use sign painting techniques, such as stencils, grids, and projections, as part of my visual vocabulary. Social spaces activate my work, similar to how signs function in public.
My piece Sakshi Chhilo Siddharth incorporates an industrial tarp, rice bags, and burlap, and I examine how these materials take on an alternative socio-economic meaning in America, where burlap is primarily used for landscaping and cheap packaging. In West Bengal, burlap is repurposed all over the home, and it is common to sew burlap potato sacks into doormats, cushions, and curtains, giving the material a new life. This practice of deliberate repurposing of materials reinforces the identity of culture.
My earliest memory of art is participating in building pandals in Konnagar, which is a suburban town in West Bengal, a state in India. These impressive, yet temporary, architectural structures exist outside and are constructed collectively by members of a local community, showcasing indigenous craft and housing a religious altar. Throughout my twenties and thirties, I was a graffiti artist, sign painter, web designer, and muralist. These experiences inform my practice today, politically and formally.
Installation, graphite, acrylic, egg tempera, cardboard, aluminum signs, recyclable food packages, found woods, used gloves, burlap roll, stretched canvas, and reclaimed materials, 65 × 96 in.
narrative in the Gig economy, 2024.
Installation, inkjet-printed printer paper collage, synthetic paper, ink, pastel, acrylic, canvas, concrete block,
and clear shower curtain liner, 139 × 131 × 15 in.
Oil, acrylic, graphite, pastel, ink, and painter’s tape
on found wood, 30 × 24 × 1 ½ in.
Oil paint, enamel, acrylic, graphite, ink, recyclable aluminum-steel cans, and duct tape on found wood, 67 × 45 × 8 in.
Enamel, wood primer, acrylic, graphite,
ink on found wood, 33 × 21 × 8 in.