AFTER THE FAMILIAR Presented by B-CAF
Paintings by Arindam Dutta
Sept 15 – Oct 1, 2026
Arindam Dutta’s practice is rooted in a sustained engagement with the human experience – memory, desire, relationships, solitude, wonder and the passage of time. His paintings begin with the familiar, but rarely remain within the boundaries of observation. Through an intuitive interplay of memory and imagination, the everyday is transformed into a world that is at once intimate, theatrical and deeply contemplative.
Across works from My Childhood, My City and Affair, as well as his depictions of solitary figures, musicians, workers, women and mythic or imagined characters, there is a consistent interest in what lies beneath the visible. A gesture, a gaze, an encounter or an ordinary moment becomes a point of entry into the inner life. Childhood, in particular, emerges not simply as recollection, but as a state of heightened perception, a place where curiosity, fear, desire and wonder remain vividly alive.
This capacity to move between the observed and the imagined is central to the strength of his work. His figures possess an unmistakable presence, often suspended between reality and reverie. They inhabit spaces that feel both recognisable and strangely removed from ordinary time. In this world, the personal gradually acquires a universal resonance.
Colour and materiality play an equally important role. Working predominantly in tempera, Dutta builds his surfaces through layers of colour, light, texture and line. His distinctive palette and emphatic contours do more than describe his subjects; they create an emotional atmosphere around them. Colour becomes a language through which states of mind are revealed, heightened and sometimes deliberately left unresolved.
There is a remarkable continuity in this practice. Decades of looking, remembering and painting have allowed Dutta to develop a visual vocabulary that is unmistakably his own, one in which lived experience is neither reproduced nor romanticised, but continually reimagined.
B-CAF presents this exhibition as an opportunity to look closely at an artist whose work rewards attention beyond the immediate familiarity of its subjects. Beneath the apparent simplicity lies a thoughtful and deeply individual practice, one that transforms the personal into something more expansive: a meditation on how we remember, how we desire and how we make meaning of the world we inhabit.
About Arindam Dutta
Arindam Dutta belongs to a generation of contemporary Indian artists who transform the ordinary into the poetic. His paintings are not records of people or places; they are meditations on memory, human relationships and the emotional landscapes that quietly shape our lives. Drawing from lived experience, he constructs a visual world where reality and imagination exist in delicate equilibrium, allowing familiar figures and everyday encounters to acquire an enduring psychological presence.
Working predominantly in tempera, Arindam has developed a distinctive pictorial language marked by layered colour, expressive contours and richly textured surfaces. His recurring themes – childhood, companionship, solitude, musicians, workers and intimate human encounters, reveal a sustained inquiry into how memory is felt rather than merely remembered. Each work invites the viewer beyond narrative, towards reflection and emotional recognition.
A Gold Medalist and First Class First in Master of Fine Arts from Rabindra Bharati University, Arindam has pursued a committed artistic practice over several decades. His works have been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions across India, earning recognition for their lyrical sensitivity and unmistakable visual identity. Today, his paintings stand as a compelling testament to an artist whose voice is deeply rooted in lived experience while resonating with universal questions of belonging, desire and remembrance.
