Monographs are pronounced in their biographical nature and this book on Sunil Das, authored by art critic Manasij Majumder, primarily chronicles the life-experiences of the artist, his movement in time and space, and provides evidence of how his art responded to the unique moments and situations that have until now marked his distinct and individual life. All the nodal points that map Sunil Das’s journey within and outside India have been marked/scrutinised by Manasij to reach the conclusion that they have also been sites of absorption, assimilation and transformation, making the art practice of this modern artist an interesting case study. Manasij’s own brief, when he began work on this book, was mainly that the text should be lucid and simple and must appeal to a wide spectrum of people. His belief rested on the premise that whenever writing about art gets esoteric, it takes away from the enjoyment of art itself. One can respect this thesis in a country where writing on art and artists is still relatively nascent. There is need to invite audiences to read about as well as engage with the artworks. Sunil Das has had an exciting life filled with fun and adventure. An avid traveller, he has always been on the move, ready to take off whenever an opportunity came his way. The cross-cultural experiences soon made him shed his artistic inhibitions and dissolve the boundaries that often limit and suppress art and its free experimentation. The artist who begins his journey in the rich and rooted reality of the environs of the Kalighat Temple in Calcutta, and who returns home after his international education and travels, one would expect is not the same. Though Sunil continues to live in Kalighat where life is a mixture of faith and spiritually, superstitions and extravagance, he has truly evolved, inspired by all that was outside of his familiar experience.
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