Bibhu Patnaik (Profile)
Bibhu Patnaik (b. 1973, Odisha, India)
About his work
In the artist’s words: “Early in my art career, I received training in Odisha Patachitra, and then continued to study Contemporary Fine Art, hence being exposed to two different aspects of art schooling. Hence, my practice is a combination of many contrasts. On one hand, I believed in the rigour of traditions and on the other hand, I also questioned them; arriving at the conclusion, that the essence of the tradition is more crucial than that the attendant rituals.
Art, in my view, should be sahaj or simple and it is not easy to achieve this. I have sought to achieve this simplicity by not having a fixed language to my works. This has helped my art to have a kampana or vibration which has freed it from a fixity of vocabulary. It has also led to decentering, breaks and shifts, and floating images which perhaps have given my works a transient quality. It is as if the paintings are in a perpetual motion...
In Odisha, traditional artists are called rupakar, makers of images. I would like to be known as a-rupakar, maker of non-images.”
Education
- MFA (Painting and Print Making); S.N School of Fine Arts, Central University of Hyderabad, Telangana; 1998
- BFA (Painting); B.K College of Art and Crafts, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar; 1995
- Two Years Training in Odisha Patachitra; State Institute of Handicrafts Training, Bhubaneswar; 1990
Solo Exhibitions
- Fusion, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi; 2014
Selected Group Exhibitions
- Barbil Art Project; Utsha Foundation for Art, Bhubaneswar; 2019
- Kala Chaupal’s Rise for Odisha: A Silent Auction; The Quorum, Gurugram; 2019
- Pankha Exhibition; Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi; 2018
- Celebrating Krishna (As part of Red Earth’s The Monsoon Festival 10); Alliance Francaise de Delhi; 2015
- Yeh Hai India Darling!; XVA Gallery, Dubai; 2011
- Icons in Our Midst; Curated by Artspeaks India at Qutub Hotel, New Delhi; 2011
- The Monsoon Festival 5, Curated by Red Earth at Exhibit 320 and Latitude 28, New Delhi; 2010
- Calendar Art, Curated by Red Earth at Apparao Galleries, New Delhi; 2009
- Making History Our Own; Presented by SAHMAT, New Delhi; 2007
- Detour, Gallery 88, Mumbai; 2005
- Tribute to Bhupen Khakhar; Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai; 2004
- 45th National Exhibition of Art; Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; 2002
- Group Show; Curated by Marien Schouten, Galerie F.I.A, Amsterdam; 2000
- Water Colours; Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; 1995
Scholarships & Residencies
- “I am with nature"; Organised by Ketaki Foundation at Lulung, Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest, Odisha; 2019
- National Artists’ Camp; Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi, Bhubaneswar; 2012
- National Painters’ Camp; Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi, Alapuzha; 2007
- Artist-in-residency, Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad; 1999
- Odisha State Lalit Kala Akademi Scholarship; 1997
Collections
- Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi
- Utsha Foundation for Art, Bhubaneswar
- Raj Bhavan, Odisha
- Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata
- Jatin Das Centre for Arts (JDCA), Bhubaneswar
- Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad
- Select Private collections: Rajshree Pathy (India), Marien Schouten, (Amsterdam), Nicola Durvasula (London) & others