Pintu Sikder

Very few seeds are germinated on the roadside. Fewer of them grow into trees defying all odds. Pintu Sikder is one such seed now grown into a big tree making his presence felt by all concerned in the globe of Art, and has secured an enviable position. Sincerity, dedication and self-commitment are three pillars of success. It is heard. Pintu has vindicated it once again. Born in 1983 in an infamous family struggling for existence at Shibarampur situated at the outskirt of the city of Kolkata he did not go any easy way to earn money. With brilliant result in Higher Secondary he could have easily managed to secure a paltry job to help his struggling widowed mother to run the family. But he would be an artist was his aim in life. Right from childhood he cherished the ambition. He went for BVA (Bachelor of Visual Art). Emerging from Indian College of art & Draftsmanship with commendable result in 2006 he went for MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in the Rabindra Bharati University. He became Master in 2008 with specialization in the field of sculpture, and he started the course of ‘kadam kadam badaye ja’. Beginning with group and solo exhibitions in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata and participation in the annual exhibition in Academy of Fine Arts, Birla Art and Culture, various art colleges and universities and Chander Hat,(Environmental Art) a centre of Art situated at Behala, Kolkata and well known among artists known and unknown and art lovers as well, he made enough inroads in the hearts of art lovers, critics and creators. Mr Sikder joined many workshops either. His works in sand casting (2006), dokra (2004), ceramics (2011) and paper making in (2013) drew attention of many an art critic. The simple brass nut as his medium, he makes sculptures of amazing strength and beauty. This young artist's work comes across as industrial, raw and powerful. Using the humble brass nut as his medium, Pintu Sikder creates sculptures of amazing strength and beauty. His wildlife creations are tactile, encouraging you to reach out and stroke what is an astonishingly smooth surface fabricated from simple brass nuts. Clay, plaster of Paris, brass nuts, gas welding – Pintu Sikder combines all these techniques to produce a finished product of striking reality. The Kolkata based artist will tell you himself quite freely and with no artifice or guile, that he comes from very humble origins and has studied and worked hard over the years simply to survive, then to study, and now to create. Pintu worries about uncontrolled urbanization and industrialization, about global warming and pollution, about the future of our planet. In his own words: “Indiscriminate use of chemicals hampers the fertility of the land left. Days are not far off when land will refuse to produce. We shall have then to depend absolutely on industry for food to eat. This is the real predicament. I wanted to reflect this in my creation. I started sculpting what I visualize." This sculpture representing talk - with letters pouring out of an ear – connects to another of this thoughtful, shy young man’s concerns. Listen to what he has to say: “Entire civilization now opts for the rough and tough. Humanity is almost gone. Civilization minus humanity is like a body without soul.” Recognising, whether we like it or not, that we live in an industrial world, Pintu Sikder uses industry to create his things of beauty. Observing nature around him and making it larger than life, the artist showcases the simplicity and fragile beauty of a lotus plant through the medium of brass nuts. It’s an unexpected juxtaposition that works. Pintu observes the beautiful details around us and reproduces them, but with a twist. Like this oversized weaver bird’s nest made from brass and copper yet seemingly ready to house a family of birds. Not without an impish sense of humors, the artist has created a dazzling washing line. In an everyday vignette that he has transformed into art. A giant sized fallen leaf, with a caterpillar perched on top. Some parts of the leaf have already been chomped away by the insect. This is the kind of detail that we all see around us on a daily basis, and yet almost certainly ignore. It takes an artist to capture such beauty, and in such an innovative way. Pintu sums up much of his philosophy in this simple statement – “Nature imparted tenderness and gracefulness in man