Although Meenakshi Sengputa’s initial training is grounded in miniature painting, she explores other pictorial traditions – evolving her practice into a conscious combination of an extensive range of media to articulate her concerns. This fundamentally hybrid character of her work subverts the dichotomy of tradition v/s modernity & Indian v/s Western and renders these distinctions obsolete. She undercuts the idiom of art that mirrors a state of cultural purity, unearthing its discursive character shaped by history and culture.
Sengupta draws from objects commonplace in the female domain to deliberately dissect her formal training and exploring new possibilities. She probes the associations of her materials, which are distinctive in isolation yet make a strong statement when put together. Using materials like stone, wood, hair, and pigments, she moves images to build a cohesive body that blurs the peripheral conflicts of various spaces.
Born in Kolkata, Sengupta completed her B.V.A in Painting in 2011 from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata and obtained her M.F.A in Painting in 2013 with Distinction (Gold Medal) from MS University, Baroda. Her work has been exhibited widely, including ‘Traditions/Transformations’ at Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp, Belgium; ‘Country Matters’ curated by Girish Shahane at Beyond Malabar Gallery, as a collateral event with Kochi-Muziris Biennale and ‘TIME’ at Gallery Maskara. She has been the receipient of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and the Greensheilds Foundation Award.
Sengupta lives and works in Kolkata.