Mrinal Dey

“For the idea that worships thin as an aesthetic epitome, my figures are garrulously loud, out-of-shape and inflated beyond proportion. But look closely. My figures probe deeper into the individual and mass mental-scape afflicted with the effects of all-pervasive selfish consumerism that often leads to an existential bleakness, where inflated egos, fall prey to bling show-ism and get isolated from one’s own deeper self.

This leads to a crisis within the individuals that they have to confront in their solitude.

My figures symbolize this acute sense of loneliness, lost in a maze of self-inflicted consumerism.

My figures are eerily grotesque and yet identifiably human. Slits for eyes, bulbous noses, thick-set lips and jaws, a baldness that places the pointedness of the ears in sharp focus, and a neck – or the very pronounced lack of it – attaching the large rotund face to a flabby, disproportionate body, highlight my disturbance with the usual trappings of post-modern life.

The colors I use are all solid enough to carefully avoid any merging with the textured backgrounds I create. This solidity enhances the boldness of my figures endowing them with the intended quality of both awe and repulsion.”

Mrinal Dey ( B. 1979 in New Jalpaiguri, Bengal ) – Completed his Masters from an art college in Chhattisgarh. He lives and works in Santiniketan, Bengal.

He has received POLLOCK-KRASNER FOUNDATION GRANT  ( NEW YORK, USA ) in 2010 & THE ELIZABETH GREENSHIELDS FOUNDATION GRANT  ( MONTREAL, CANADA ) in 2008.