| Born to a landowning family in Mumbai, Samant
graduated from Sir J.J. School of Arts in 1952, winning India's
two most prestigious art honors, the gold medal of the Academy
of Fine Arts of Calcutta and that of the Bombay Art Society.
He worked in Italy for two years (1957-58) on an Italian government
scholarship. He studied Basholi miniature painting under M.
Palsikar. In January 1959, he came to New York on a Rockefeller
grant.
Renowned art historian and critic John Richardson named the
artist among the world’s 100 best artists in the year
1963. Hillary Clinton later honored Samant during her senatorial
campaign as the best artist living in Manhattan. Influenced
by such painters as Paul Klee and Picasso, Samant appreciates
inventing one's own form and style and yet having a personality
that is completely apart from style. 'You can evolve in what
you are persistent in creating,' said Samant. 'There are 25
different ways of painting, and confronting a canvas evolves
into a form in 15 different ways. You don't repeat yourself.'
In the early 50s, Samant joined the Progressive Artists' Group.
While his fellow PAGs took their inspiration predominately from
Paris, Samant explored the imagery of Egyptian funerary wall
drawings, Ajanta murals and Rajput miniatures, establishing
a range of primeval images in his work.
Since 1968, Samant has been living in New York. In an interview,
he describes spending hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
where he continues to find powerful symbols in the assembly
of cultural relics from around the world. He describes his art
almost like installation art; only difference being that my
installation is within my frame." He does a large number
of wire drawings and proceeds to fit them like the pieces of
a jigsaw puzzle on to the canvas. He never knows what it's going
to look like until he is 70 per cent of the way through.
Explaining the creative processes, he once noted: 'I do not
practice sarangi. I play it every day as if I am in a concert,
sometimes very well, sometimes very badly. Similarly, I don't
practice painting with drawing and sketching. I just paint and
if I don't like it I over paint the same canvas twice, thrice,
many times. I do not use drawings and sketches in preparation
for the paintings, they are separate works altogether.'
Though his paintings are invariably mixed media, the heterogeneous
elements are deftly blended to create pieces that are surprisingly
simple in appearance. His paintings are primarily abstract,
but retain figurative aspects that often-limning mythic narratives.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Samant's paintings is
his use of texture: manipulation of paint materials with sand
and glue in the early 1960's, paper cutouts attached to the
canvas in the 1970's and the application of wire drawings in
the 1980's.
A sarangi exponent, Samant's music occupies a large part of
his heart. In the artist's Manhattan studio on May 18, 2003,
an afternoon of music and art was arranged when he played Indian
classical ragas on the sarangi surrounded by his paintings.
Among his prominent solo shows are Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
(2000), Birla Academy of Art, Kolkata (1998), Birla Academy
of Art & Culture, Mumbai (1997), Gallery B.A.I., New York
(1995, 94), Birthday Book, New York (1975, 73), Selected Artists
Gallery, New York (1972), Pundole Gallery, Mumbai (1967), Gallery
Chemould, Mumbai and Delhi (1966), Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai (1966),
Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai (1965), World House Galleries, New York
(1961-65) and Rome Institute of Oriental Studies, Italy (1958)
His work features in several prestigious collections including
Asia Society, New York, Birla Art Academy, Kolkata, Carnegie
Institute, Pittsburgh, Colgate University, New York, Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington
D.C., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The National Gallery
of Modern Art, New Delhi and Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi |