Sumitra the Artist

SUMITRA MUKERJI ARTIST BIO

Sumitra Mukerji is self-taught as an artist – no formal art school training. Endowed with natural talent, she has been painting as well as creating miscellaneous other art work for a long time – alongside a busy academic and professional life in other fields.

Sumitra began experimenting with oil and acrylic on canvas during the early 1990s, creating a series of abstract, semi-abstract (non-representational) and figurative paintings. From the late 1990s onward, she concentrated on small-scale work: painting with enamel on ceramic tiles and sketching with pencil/charcoal on paper.

Over the past decade and a half, 2 distinct series have developed in these mediums:
(i) A series of “dreamscapes, landscapes, and other-scapes” on tile, which she calls “Modernist miniatures” – punning both conceptually and visually on the Indian art tradition of Mughal miniatures and on certain styles of Western modernism in art, incl. late Impressionism.
(ii) A series of sketches on paper, some abstract, some landscape or scenic representations, which she calls “Colonial pastiche” – again punning with form and concept, as these are “take-offs” on drawings and paintings by colonial British artists in 19th century India.

In late 2013, wanting to develop skills in Oil painting further, especially “perspective,” Sumitra joined the historic Art Students League of New York on 57th Street as a student member. Since 2014 she has atelier-style studio classes with established artists and instructors such as Peter Homitzky (Landscapes, oil), Oldrich Tepley (Portraiture, oil and other), Jerry Weiss (Live Figure painting, oil), and Naomi Campbell (Watercolor, live figure and still life).

Lately, since December 2013 to present, Sumitra has been creating 4 new series in Oil on canvas:
(i) a set of urban landscapes/cityscapes of New York City, mostly representations of digital photo shots of her neighborhood, titled “Portraits of the lower east side”;
(ii) landscapes of scenes from the Indian Himalayas; (iii) cityscapes of her hometown New Delhi, especially scenes of rooftops; and
(iv) figures and portraits of live studio models. [The latter includes some charcoal on paper sketches]

REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES OF SUMITRA’S ARTWORK IN DIFFERENT MEDIUMS – OIL ON CANVAS, PERMENAMEL ON TILE, WATERCOLOR, CHARCOAL & PENCIL – ARE SHOWN ON THE RIGHT PANEL.

EXHIBITIONS: GROUP & SOLO:

2003–2004: Tile paintings exhibited at Caetano in the lower east side, Manhattan, New York.

Group Shows, 2014-2017:

February 2013: “Fall on Stanton Street 2013” and “Rivington Street, L.E.S. 2013” at the Art Students League Phyllis Harriman Gallery, 57th Street, New York City.

December 2015–January 2015: “Winter Light Ham Fish Park” selected and shown in the prestigous 6th Annual Small Works Exhibition at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office Gallery in downtown Manhattan.

February 2015: “Dusk at Essex Market” and “Rivington Street East View” shown at the Art Students League Phyllis Harriman Gallery. Sumitra received a “blue dot” special recognition award for these paintings.

March 2016: "Naked Man in Studio" (oil on canvas, live studio model) at the ASL Phyllis Harriman Gallery.

May 2016–November 4 2016: "Fall on Stanton Street" and "Dusk at Essex Market" selected and installed for special viewing at the offices of NYC arbitration firm Chaffetz-Linsey.

February 2017: Watercolor Exhibit, Art Students League Gallery.

In June–July 2016 Sumitra had a Solo Exhibit of her series "Portraits of the Lower East Side and other NYC cityscapes" plus a few other paintings and sketches at the Black Cat L.E.S., a cafe-cum-gallery in her neighborhood.

SUMITRA IS DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THE SALE OF AN ORIGINAL IN MAY 2017: “Fall on Stanton Street” (Oil on Canvas, 12x16).

THIS PAINTING IS NOW IN THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF RAY JOS MONTERO AND HIS MOTHER IRIS MONTERO.

Sumitra is grateful to both of them for their appreciation of her work and their encouragement and support.

Here is a sample of Sumitra's recent Oil paintings (representational works in different series)
followed by some of her Tile paintings (old & recent imaginary scenes, abstracts),
followed by some Figure portraiture (charcoal, oil):