I would not like to call myself a Tantric, though I often picked up motifs and symbolic concepts from Tantric mode of self realization. I feel comfortable in set harmonised colours', says Dipak Banerjee, who taught art at the Banaras Hindu University from 1968 to 1996.Graduate of Government College of Art and Craft (1952-57), Kolkata, he also studied at the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts and Atelier 17 under S. W. Hayter in Paris on a French Government scholarship (1965-67). He is also the recipient of a Norwegian Government stipend and worked at the Atelier Nord, Oslo (1976-77). His first solo show was held in 1967 at the Maison des Beaux-Arts in Pazris, and since then he never looked back. His numerous solo and group shows were held in different cities of India, and Oslo, Fredrikstad (Norway), Valdivia in Chile, Hamburg. He received National Award twice both in Painting (1959) and Graphic (1968). Besides these, he was the recipient of AIFACS Award in Painting in 1962 and in Graphic in 1976, U. P. State Lalit Kala Akademi Award in Graphic in 1974. Member of the Society of Contemporary Artists since 1960, he now lives and works in Kolkata. |
