Awards - August 2020

 

Artist of the month: Digbijayee Khatua.

Where were you born? Write a little about your character.
I was born in Kendrapada district of Odisha.
I am now practicing my painting in Delhi as a painter. I prefer to live a simple life, I spend most of my time practicing art.

When did art/design/photography become part of your life?
As a child, I was fascinated by art, from the time my mother painted on the walls of our house. My father was a history teacher, my father always did and talks about history, and then I became more interested in art. When I started studying at Art college, I became more interested in art after seeing the Patta paintings and temples in Odisha.

How long have you been making art?
I finished my bachelor's degree in Odisha in 2012 and my masters in Delhi in 2015, the last five years I have been practicing my art.

Do you have a particular artist whose work you admire of?
Not a one particular artist, I'm mostly influenced Indian traditional art, like miniature painting (Orisan Patta Paintings) and I have attracted towards people, ideas and concepts that provide an alternate way of understanding life around me.

Can you tell us more about the project you are currently working on?
My currently practice is vastly influenced and marked by my shift from Odisha to Delhi and personal
encounter with the ever- changing landscape, evident in my recording of minute details – both real and
imagined. Fusing stylistic elements drawn from miniature paintings and the traditional Patta paintings
(Indian traditional painting). The idea portrayed the value of image reading and sense of diversity between
Machine and urban picture. In the painting it gives the scene of manmade clouds and deserves the costume of urban.

Where do you do your work?
I have my art practice Delhi and now my current studio located at the Kaladham Society in Greater Noida, UP.

Do you work from life, from photographs or from imagination?
In my research I intend to identify local people in city so I would like to visit local place, I take some
photographs and some images from the net as reference and some from my life experience from
imagination then I compose my artwork.

What technique (applicable for art/design/photography) do you use?
Watercolors as a medium are most important for me because I find it very effective and playful. Currently I am exploring the unique ways to articulate the beauty and spiritual essence of this medium. I have been working with watercolors for ten long years, which have created a great interest in me to play with it.

What is the role of the designer/artist in society?
The artist is like a mirror of society, seeing what is happening in society through his art. Good things in
society reach out to people and make people aware, through art we can learn about our past. Through his painting, an artist informs people about the future and the present.

What is the place of your work in society? Is there a purpose to your design/artwork?

I have been observing in my day-to-day life, how the city life is moving with unnaturalness, illusion and
pollution but everybody still feels lively with man-made beauty and complications. The pictorial surface in my works gains various perspectives and layers browsing through compartmentalized renditions of the city.
I would like to present its cons, which are affecting our human lives. Along with it, side-by-side, I will be developing a work, which is the Artist Diary.

Where did you study?
I received a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in 2015 from College of Art, Delhi University, New Delhi, and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts in 2012 from B. K. College of Art and Crafts, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha

What would you call your style?
Where I am able to easily cut the papers that I paste and make layers giving it a 3d effect. The pictorial
design gains various perspectives and layers browsing through compartmentalized renditions of the city,
that do not shy away from rather romanticized and significantly embellished assortments of various
mediums and materials.

What is the best thing about being an artist?
An artist must first know himself. How to find out about your art culture and how artists can bring
awareness to society through their art.

What is the worst thing about being an artist?
I do not think there is anything wrong with being an artist, sometimes you have to work hard to make
money, but this is life. I think that if an artist dedicates his life to his art, he will have absolute success.

How do you feel when people interpret your design/artwork differently?
Sometimes it seems to me that art has no language, as if a person sees my painting and associates his
lifestyle with that painting. I love it so much people see different art and tell different stories and if I find out too much I will try to bring it to my next work.

How do you feel after you finished or while you are designing/painting?
I get a lot of pleasure when I start my painting with a subject, when the work begins with a lot of subject
matter and color takes on a shape, so I get a lot of pleasure from watching detailing. When the painting is finished, I feel very happy and try to figure out how to do the next thing better.

What you draw/paint/design, is it part of your personality?
Yes my art is a part of my personality, every work I do, my personal life, is connected with my past and
present. I do everything I do with my life experience and present situation.

Who or what inspires you?
I have influences Orissan Patta painter and a long list of ideas and concepts as an artist, artisan, writer and movies.

What advice do you have for aspiring artists?
As an artist, I would say, first of all, you love your art, you have to know what you can do, develop what you can do and dedicate yourself to art, and you will be successful one day.

@digbijayee_khatua