Art of Samit Roy: May 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Gnarled & Tangled

Visual Poetry and Digital Art by Samit Roy

Gnarled & Tangled (2003)

… indeed … our gnarled and tangled roots condense thicken deepen … plumbing quite deep now, shallow next…probing … delving deep again … up for air in a moment … up up … and pause … cease … abate … yet down once more … unfathomable … bottomless … deep into the impregnable squares of stones ...
[ Tr. by Madhuban Mitra ]

I really don't like to call them Visual Poetry, but I never had a better word! However, on a second thought I realized that no other word can express the idea, other than this one - Visual Poetry. I consider them as 'poetry' and they are quite 'visual', too!

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Other Side of The Bread

Book Cover - Rutir Opith (2006)

The other side of our bread! We have never seen that! Or did we? I remember, when I worked for this Bengali novel, Rutir Opith (Other Side of The Bread) by Kamal Chakraborty, I enjoyed it a lot. Kamal Chakraborty is one of my favorite writers of contemporary Bengali Literature. So I was completely overwhelmed when he asked me to design the cover for his book, Rutir Opith. It was a fascinating novel, running through the obscured and narrow lanes between real and unreal.

More about my cover designs for Bengali novels and poetry collections »

Friday, May 26, 2006

Theme Image - KICHAINGAATHAA

Theme Image for KICHAINGAATHAA (2006)

The theme image for my prose piece KICHAINGAATHAA!

'Kichain' is a Bangla slang for public chaos and 'Gaathaa' means a Ballad. I was trying to capture the day-to-day chaos of our civilized, urban life, in this prose piece. The language and theme of this piece is very prosaic and based on typical urban aggressiveness. It is never lyrical or does not have any influence of conventional parameters of a so called 'Ballad'. Still, I wanted to call it as a 'Ballad', as I strongly feel that the lyrical mellowness and smoothness of a ballad, is replaced by the harshness and chaotic darkness of a city, when it is juxtaposed against an urban backdrop.

Poet In Search Of His Muse

Poet In Search Of His Muse (1999)

Statutory Warning

Statutory Warning (1999)

One of my early digital works - Statutory Warning! The Bengali text in the images says something like, "The night passes by and I think of you!" Very romantic, indeed!

Sketch Untitled

Untitled Sketch (2005)

I always like to overlap analog and digital techniques and mix two entirely different textures and moods together, forming a third layer, on the same image.

Self-protrait #67

Self-protrait #67 (2003)

This is on of the many self-portraits I have painted between 2002 and 2004. I was obsessed with the theme. Irrespective of whatever I wished to draw, I used to end up drawing two big eyes, a sad face, a prominent nose, a bald head, big ears - exactly like what I thought I should look like.