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Artist Bio:

Subhendu Karmakar is a visual artist from West Bengal, India. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from The Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship, affiliated with Rabindra Bharati University, in 2023, and is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Rabindra Bharati University.

His practice explores themes of public property, neglect, maintenance, and material decay. Working primarily with iron sheets, acrylic paint, dust, and paper, he investigates the effects of time and environmental exposure on public infrastructure. Through material experimentation, Karmakar examines questions of collective responsibility, impermanence, and the changing condition of shared spaces.

Artist Statement:

My artistic practice investigates public property, maintenance, neglect, and the gradual processes of decay that shape the built environment over time. I am interested in how public structures, often left unattended, accumulate dust, rust, and other traces of environmental exposure, revealing broader questions about care, responsibility, and collective ownership.

Iron sheets serve as a primary medium in my work due to their material relationship with the subject matter. Like the public structures I depict, iron undergoes transformation through oxidation and deterioration. By applying acrylic paint to these surfaces, I create works that remain vulnerable to environmental change, allowing the artworks themselves to participate in the processes of ageing and decay. Rather than simply representing deterioration, the works embody it.

Alongside these pieces, I create paintings on paper that explore the accumulation of dust on public infrastructure. Dust functions as a marker of time, neglect, and environmental exposure, becoming both a material and conceptual element within the work. Public structures are often isolated within empty spaces, emphasizing the contrast between public and private property. Through this visual language, I examine how public spaces are maintained, perceived, and valued, while reflecting on impermanence, social responsibility, and the passage of time.