About the Artist
Abhipsa Pradhan (B 1979) is a National Awardee 2023
lalit Kala Akademi,New Delhi painter, sculpture installation artist. Abhipsa has done her BFA and MFA. She has partici- pated in over Fifty exhibitions as well as numerous workshops and camps. With a career spanning over two decades, Abhipsa Pradhan is a seasoned and consistently evolving contemporary Indian Artist.
She constantly innovates and experiments with various styles, techniques, and mediums. Her art has a broad sweep across space and time encompassing various themes and cultures – indigenous and modern.
Abhipsa has been felicitated with various awards:
Art Society of India 2024 ,AIFACS award in 2022, Prafulla Dhankar award in 2022 .The Tribal award by the Government of India among others and is also the recipient of the
Junior Fellowship CCRT (Government of India).
Solo Show
2025 ‘ UNFOLDING SANSKRUTI at Triveni Art Gallery curated by Khushii Art LLP. 2022 ‘ THROUGH THE ARTIST’S EYES ‘ at DLF Magnolias in Gurgaon curated by
APPARAO GALLERY
Group Show
2025 legacy & beyond by Artvista Gallery at Jehangir Art Gallery (Mumbai)
2025 Festive Fusion by Shree Yash Art Gallery (Delhi)
2025 Beyond the Canvas India Art Festival Gallery (Hyderabad)
2025 Unfolding Narratives at Travancore Palace .Modern Art Gallery (New Delhi) 2025Contemporary Signature by the curators (Mumbai)
2025World Art Conclave by art Vista (Mumbai) 2025 Indian Art Fair DELHI by Art Distric XII.
2024Art Society of India at Jehangir Art gallery (Mumbai) Indian Art Fair DELHI Art Distric XII.
63rd National Exhibition of Art at lalit kala Aademy (New Delhi) Show at Indian Art Fair DELHI Art Distric XII
62nd National Exhibition of Art at lalit kala Aademy (New Delhi) 93”& 94” Annual All India Art Exhibition AIFACS (New Delhi) Kalanand Prafulla foundation , Jehangir Art Gallery, (Mumbai) The World in our Backyard at The Art Lounge Nirvana ,Gurugram The Bombay Art Society’s 129th All India Annual Art Exhibition 16 Asim kala at Rabindra Bhavan Bhubaneswar, Odisha
khajuraho International Art Mart , Madhya Pradesh
“ODRA” UNBOXING THE CULTURE at Mordern Art Gallery , Bhubaneswar,Odisha 16 Gorgeous women Artists from Udraw Foundation
Group Exhibition at Visual Art Indian Habitat Centre (New Delhi) Core ‘19 Exhibition at lalit Kala Academy (New Delhi)
60th National Exhibition of Art ( Mumbai)
15th All India Traditional Art Exhibition at AIFACS (New Delhi)
2018 Creative Surrender at Indian Habitat Centre (New Delhi) 2018 Niracharthu (Kerala)
2018 Artscapes (Chandigarh)
2017 Artistic Echoes at Indian Habitat Centre(New Delhi) 2017 UNS Femini Art Gallery (New Delhi)
2017 Khushrang at AIFACS (New Delhi)
2017 India Art Awards at (Ahmadabad)
2016 Elegancy of Colour at Artizen Art Gallery
2016 Rejoice of Art at lokayata Art Gallery
2016 Roop Aroop -Jawahar Kala Kendra Jaipur.
2016 Modern art Gallery couples of strokes, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
2015 Group Show, Calcutta
1998 Lalit Kala Kendra, Bhubaneswar, Orissa.
1999 Dhiren dash memorial art exhibition, Lalit kala academy, Orissa 2000 Orissa state exhibition, Lalit Kala academy, Bhubaneswar, Orissa. 2000 All India art exhibitions, “AIFACS”, Bhubaneswar, Orissa.
2001 “Artists of Orissa” Lalit Kala center, Bhubaneswar, Orissa.
2001 Four men show, Society of art & literature, New Delhi
2002 All India art exhibition “AIFACS”, New Delhi. 2004 “Eastern India young artist exhibition” Calcutta.
Camps
2023 2023 2022 2019 2018 2015 2014 2006 2006 2001 2000
2000
Urusvati Museum of Folklore Sec 78 Art Camp at Gurgaon. Tribal National Art Camp at Madhubani by LKA Delhi. Freedom at Bhopal art Camp
Tribal Camp at Rajastan.
“Niracharthu”National painting Camp,Kerala “Awareness Camp Jaydev Nagar Bhubaneswar. “Red cross Camp”, Bhubaneswar.
“AIDS Day Camp”, Calcutta.
Summer camp by Orissa lalit kala bhavan . “NATAKA”, Puri, Orissa.
All India young artist camp All India young artist camp.
AWARD
2024 Art Society of India ,Mumbai
2023 National Award Lalit Kala Akademy (63 National Exhibition of Art) 2022 AIFACS Award (93 &94 Annual art Exhibition)
2022 Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation.
2018 Junior Felowship CCRT(Govt of India).
2017 Being India Excelency Award .
2017 Certificate by Arte Mondiale Ahmedabad .
2005 Award by Niswas, Bhubaneswer, Orissa.
2004 Award by CCWA, Bhubaneswer, Orissa.
2003 Tribal Award by govt tribal research centre.
2000 From B.K college of art & crafts, Bhubaneswer, Orissa.
1998 From B.K college of art & crafts, Bhubaneswer, Orissa.
Workshops
2020 Nature work shop at Nanital Uttrakhand.
2019 Kumbha camp at prayagraj.
2018 Environment camp Tourism of Uttrakhand at dehradun. 2018 Swacha Camp at Puri.
2017 Mudra Camp at Banaras.
2017 Tribal Heritage camp at Bhopal.
2004 Conducted mura l pai nti ng workshop by B.K COL LEG E 2001 Tempra painting workshop, Sanskrit Kendra, Calcutta.
Collections
Many collection in Abroad & India
Journey
Art Practice on
“IDITAL” inspire me to work
The series Journey is a creative exploration of my physical journey from a small village in Odisha where I was born in 1979, to Bhubaneshwar where I completed my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts and stayed till I was twenty two and finally to the me- tropolis Delhi from where I completed my Master’s in Art practice. My conviction to pursue art as a career and the opportunities that Delhi offered, made this city my home away from home. This series is my creative elucidation of the my own movement from rural to urban spaces and finally to a mega metropolis.
The sounds of the cowbells tinkling and the distant soft lambent dust signalling the return of the cattle at the end of the day. . . This is not a scene from a story but a beautiful slice of rural life. Having lived in rural and urban Odisha before moving to Delhi, I feel a deep connection to rural life and indigenous arts and techniques. Odisha is home to the ancient tribal culture in India. My paintings res- onate with the urge to try to depict on my canvas, the intensely sensuous, poetic rhythms of the simple rural and tribal life as contrasted with the urban ethos.
My artistic imagination is spurred by life, by lived experiences and their gestation into something new, something evocative. My series titled Journey is an effort to chart out the changing physical, cultural and social landscapes from the rural to the urban and from the past to the present.
Journey is replete with iconographic and mythological detail innovatively drawing on indigenous cultures, the iconic vintage motifs of modernity, and the present frame, this series is indeed a journey from the primitive existence to the present and the endless invisible chains of unconscious memories and experiences that bind humanity into an endless continuum.
Underlying the series is the recognition of the impact of modernisation on the religious customs and traditions of the primitive tribes of Odisha and the how their very survival is at stake by the changes brought about by modernisation. The mining activities, manufacturing industries denuding the forest resources has threatened the very existence of this group of people who have been depend-
ent on the forest for their day-to-day needs, including food, shelter, tools, medi- cine, and in some cases even clothes. The delicate balance of judicious use and simultaneous preservation of the forests by these tribes has been upset. In this scenario, the loss of indigenous culture and art, is an impending reality and would be intensely detrimental to humanity and civilisation.
The angst experienced by the people of these tribes due to loss of their roots and having to leave their homes and habitat in search of basic amenities, and the consequent identity crisis that they face, is further exacerbated by the new reality of urbanisation, over population and city apathy. This has been a driving impulse behind my series.
However, paradoxically, at the core of this tussle between environment and devel- opment, nature and technology, my paintings also portray a deep utopian wish to integrate these into a dynamic equilibrium. The paintings in this series represent the crisis that tribal cultures face in the overriding march of modernity. However, they are also conceived from my fervent hope and belief, that these tribal arts can be reinvented and kept alive.
I have been passionately involved in painting from a very young age. I always had an eye for fine detailing. Perhaps that is why the tribal art of Idital beckoned me. Idital is a form of art of some of the tribes in Odisha. I have been exploring this form for more than fifteen years now and have creatively explored many different mediums and colours. I consider it to be the perfect technique for me to urgently foreground the concerns of the tribals. I have tried to recapture and paint the cul- ture of the tribes of Konds and Sauras in my own unique artistic style and vision. Journey is an articulation of the artist in me to creatively think about the slow destruction of traditions and the heritage of tribal cultures. It is also an effort to lovingly recreate the space where I was born and balance it with the love of the place where I work. My own personal journey that I have traversed endows my
art with a unique combination of various elements, styles, textures, visions, and techniques. In the current series, I have used line and dot technique and emboss- ing and experimented with varied mediums and surfaces like cloth, canvas hot press on board, acrylic colours, charcoal. The paintings that I create are infused with natural colours to denote an earthiness, a quality that I value. The proximity to nature, which I believe is conveyed by the natural colours that I use, bestows
a simplicity and purity which is the soul of our tradition, giving my paintings an earthy quality that is so integral to my artistic vision.
My artworks in Journey have the artistic sensibility of a contemporary artist and are illustrations of the struggles of contending eras, of different cultures and differ- ent spaces incorporating the ancient, the vintage and finally the post-modern re- ality. The vintage objects, as well as the primitive motifs and mythological figures that I chose are leitmotifs of our multi-layered and diverse reality. The combination of Idital art representing indigenous traditions along with vintage objects – a car,
or a gramophone, the city and various rituals and religious festivals, and mytho- logical figures, all these densely populate my canvas. The paintings effectuate a fusion, of Idital, with vintage era and beyond, to the current scene.
One of the factors behind choosing to represent Vintage objects was the interesting coexistence of humans and machines and my belief that to coexist one need not reject the other, but one needs to respect the other.
My series Journey is a journey at various levels: It is a journey of my very being as I explore deeper into artistic inspiration and my art and its innovations. It is also a physical journey that I have traversed in my life from the dust of cow hooves to the dust of a city. It is a mental journey where the mind looks at and documents the diverse realities of the forestlands, the villages and the cities that is quintessentially India. Finally, it is an emotional journey full of memories and nostalgia. It is a recon- nection to my roots, to my own present and to the postmodern realities. The past and the present experiences are fused in my artistic forays of which Journey is a complex articulation.
