SOUMEN DAS

Imprints of Space

Paintings by Soumen Das from December 1, 2006 at Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai



Certain spaces leave misty impressions after we have visited them. One recalls a site as a visual code. It may be challenging to verbalise the description of these memories. Photographic details too may not do justice to the emotions attached to such places. It’s a personal picture of a place seen and experienced.

Such reminiscence seems to be at the root of Soumen’s inspiration to paint. His paintings are somewhere between representation and his impression of the physical experience of visiting or seeing the space. He photographs various locations and uses the images as a starting point in the paintings. With a foundation structure in line drawing of the architecture he begins portraying his impression of the place. The structures that interest him could be his neighbouring terraces and tenements, historic forts, temples or palaces.




The likeness between the physical appearance of the place and the painting are irrelevant to Soumen’s concerns. Neither naturalistic representation nor providing information about a location is his intention. He could be painting fragments of a structure, like an arch, a staircase, or one section of a building. Details or semblance to any particular structures are replaced with layers of repetitive patterns. Inside spaces collide or integrate with outside spaces. Layers of pastel shades overlap as do horizontal, diagonal and vertical planes, and patterns. These graduated expanses of surfaces create a serene tone in the painting.





Starting from an architectural source of inspiration to a process where its details and identity are reduced, Soumen’s approach is quasi-abstract. His endeavour is to recreate the feelings that come from being in or witnessing the space that he has chosen to portray. He plays with multiple perspectives in each composition. Depth comes from the different layers of colours and motifs. In recreating an impression of a place visited or seen around him, he builds spaces, creates space between those spaces and moulds the space.
Broad swabs of brush in single colour glazes are overlaid on the structures, patterns and shapes, erasing some of the contours and details. Colour is Soumen’s primary concern. Casein, powdered pigments mixed with a binder solution, is used on canvas in this collection. The freshness and brightness in these pigments add to the sense of vast space even though his compositions are busy with overlapping patterns such as triangles, wavy brush marks and lines.

To see Soumen’s work in the context of the Baroda art school where he did BA and MA in Fine Arts (Painting) is interesting. It is known that in the early years after its inception the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, has bent toward a figurative visual discourse giving importance to the roots of Indian tradition of narrative folk, temple and miniature art. At the same time, the faculty has been receptive to myriad approaches of expression. Soumen has allowed his own voice to express even as he has apprenticed with senior artists such as GM Sheikh and Nilima Sheikh in his formative years. He attributes his familiarity with casein to her. Living in an artistic environment that has been preoccupied with premeditated subjects stemmed in social, personal and political issues, Soumen departs in the direction of expressing intangible experiences through form and colour. Apart from the initial reference to a physical structure, his work process is spontaneous.

Soumen has lived in Baroda for the last 15 years. He is originally from a place near Kolkata called Mecheda. In his childhood Soumen lived in various places in West Bengal as his father, a civil engineer had a transferable job. Wherever they travelled, Soumen was close to nature he says. He was born near a river and he has grown up in green and tranquil surroundings. The serenity in Soumen’s paintings could also be attributed to these early memories.

Jasmine Shah Varma
November 2006

Soumen Das at work at his studio in Baroda
Photographs by Manish Mehta

Soumen is an emerging artist to watch out for.
His works are quasi-abstract. Inspired by architectural buildings, his
paintings evoke the feeling of a place rather than its physical details.
In this show he is showing works in Casein on Canvas. Very few artists use casein. Powdered pigments are mixed with casein — a binding solution. The mix results in a grainy, tactile texture and allows the artist to make translucent brush strokes. The brightness in his works is due to the freshness in these colours.

Soumen has done BA and MA in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Baroda. His previous solo shows include

2006 Artist of the Month (July), Saffronart.com
2005 Epiphany / The Moment, Sarjan Art Gallery
2001 Memories, Nazar, Baroda
1999 The Fine Art Company, Bombay
He has participated in several group shows including Stirring Quartet in 2005.

Also see

Gallery Collection