Our formative experiences tend to mold us into what we are. They give us our view of the world around us, and enable us to express our innermost thoughts and ideas in our own unique ways. In his paintings, Sudip Datta straddles the boundary between the real and the ideal, depicting the chains of inner conflict that hold us to the human condition, far away from the open fields of imagination. His ability to penetrate the core emotions of this eternal conflict through abstract expression stands out among contemporary artists in its fluidity and grace.
Born in India on 1965 in a prominent Bengali family hailing from what is now Bangladesh, Sudip grew up through the turmoil of post-partition unrest and his family’s fall from fortune. Yet amid all the hardship, his parents Sri Ramesh Chandra Datta and Smt. Sabita Rani Datta inculcated in him a love for art and music. As a child he drew on every available surface, and sculpted clay that his father would lovingly prepare for him. Although his family could not afford painting supplies for him, they gave him their wholehearted support and encouragement.
Sudip eventually joined the Indian Art College’s five-year Diploma program, and graduated in 1990. He trained with the prominent painters Shubhaprasanna and Harilal Sahu, and refined his skills through constant practice. The constant tension between reality and imagination is a recurring theme in Sudip’s work. His subjects seek to transcend their mundane existence by elevating themselves to a world of dreams where everything is possible “†especially the impossible. Even in its most abstract form, Sudip’s art draws from his own struggle and aims ever higher to revel in the possibility of the impossible.