Ganesh Haloi

Insulation is the most important factor in these paints. You are alone with nature and then you become part of it, you participate in it.

The art of Ganesh Haloi has evolved through a series of transactions from pure landscapes to interior landscapes.

Although abstract, Haloi's works and motifs have precise associations with the artist's psyche, his experiences, and the disorders that have shaped him and his point of view. It all starts with pain, says Haloi. He maintains high standards of craftsmanship and his construction of trees, houses and the ambiance of Calcutta seems murky with a suppressed force. Some of his unforgettable works include natural landscapes painted on rice paper.

Born in 1936 in East Bengal, now Bangladesh, he migrated to Calcutta during the partition. He graduated from the Government College of Art & Craft Kolkata in 1956 and joined the Archaeological Survey of India as a senior artist. He was appointed to work at Ajanta from 1957 to 1963. He then joined Art College Kolkata as a professor in 1964.

His early work includes a study of miniatures in Banasthali Rajasthan and copying frescoes from Ajanta for six years. While his early works are dominated by landscapes, his later paintings reflect his introverted and intelligent temperament. Haloi's work shows his concern with themes of devastation, calamity, and resilience.

Born in a district that is now part of Bangladesh, his earliest memories of the region are of Brahmaputra and the delta region mixed with the communal holocaust and partition.

I try to fit the irregular movements of life into the artificial boundaries of the paintings, he says. His perspective is that of a victim but tempered with a strong dose of philosophy and a calm acceptance. His use of colors is dense and evokes reflective memories with spontaneous ease.

Ganesh Haloi has won several awards including the Gold Medal in Memory of the late R. N. Chakraborty (former principal) of the Government College of Art, Kolkata (1956), the seven silver medals of the University of Kolkata 1953, 1954, 1955. Gold medals from the Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta 1955, 1956, 1957, 1963, 1964, 1966, and 1970.

BORN

February 9, 1936 Jamalpur Bangladesh

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

1952-56 Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016 Ganesh Haloi in Linear Abstraction, Akar Prakar Art Advisory, New Delhi

2016 Ganesh Haloi The Eye of Feeling, Akar Prakar, Kolkata

2013 Ganesh Haloi in Linear Abstraction, Akar Prakar, Kolkata; Bengal Fine Arts Gallery, Dhaka

2011 Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi presented by Akar Prakar, Kolkata, and Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi

2007 Unwanted, Sanskriti Gallery, Kolkata

2007 Organized by Art Musings, Mumbai at Art Musings, Mumbai and Museum Gallery, Mumbai

2006 A sublime art, Aicon Gallery, New York

2006 Seeking Steps, Akar Prakar, Calcutta

2003 Works on paper, online exhibition at Saffron Art

2000 Lakeeren Gallery, Bombay

1962 First solo exhibition, Artistry House, Calcutta.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012 Aqua, Beyond Gallery, Mumbai

2012 One eye sees, the other feels, The Viewing Room, Mumbai

2011 Form and Formlessness, Art Alive Gallery, Gurgaon

2010-11 Figure Landscape, Part Two, Aicon Gallery, London

2010 Above and Beyond, Aicon Gallery, London

2010 Essential, eclectic, ephemeral, The Harrington Mansions, Kolkata

2009-10 Discerning Form, Aicon Gallery, New York

2009 Charting Time, Bodhi Art, Mumbai

2008 Spirit of Abstraction, Mahua Art Gallery, Kolkata

2008 Eternal Varanasi, K2 Gallery, Kolkata

2007 12 artists, organized by Akar Prakar, Kolkata at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

2007 Black and White, Kanishka Gallery, Calcutta

2007 Journey 2, a charity art exhibition for passages, Art and Soul, Mumbai

2007 Art for Concern, 2007 Annual Charity Auction

2007 Exhibition on Art India Times

2006 Space, Hacienda Art Gallery, Mumbai

2006 Ambadas, Haloi, Dhawan, Kolte, Tun Sein, Galerie Muller & Plate, Munich

2005 Drishti Vision, Contemporary Indian Artists, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur

2005 Abstract Contemporary Indian Art, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi

2003 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

2002 Uncertainty in Certainty, Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

2002 Ganesh Haloi Uncertainty in Certainty A Journey, Societe Asiatique of Multiple Art and Artists, Gurgaon

Answer from 1999, Ganesh Haloi

1997, 1998, 1999 Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

1998 Art World, Chennai

1996 CIMA International Modern Art Center, Kolkata

1996 Escape Gallery, New Delhi. 

1996 Lakeeren Gallery, Bombay

1995 Bose Pacia Modern, New York

1995 CIMA International Modern Art Center, Calcutta

1995 Watercolor A Broad Spectrum - II, with Prabhakar Barwe, C. Douglas, Prabhakar Kolte, M. Rai, Vivan Sundaram, Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata

1994 Trends and Images, CIMA International Modern Art Centre, Calcutta

1994 Indian Contemporary Art, Maya Gallery, Hong Kong

1993 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

1993 Wounds, CIMA Center for International Modern Art, Calcutta and National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi.

1992 Alliance Francaise, New Delhi.

1992 Conflict, Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Calcutta

1991 Contemporary Indian Artists Multiculturalism and Internationalism through Art, Melbourne

1980 Four contemporary artists from West Bengal, Calcutta.

SELECTED JOINT EXHIBITIONS

2005 As Inside and Outside, with Prabhakar Kolte, Art Musings, Mumbai

PARTICIPATIONS

2011 Manifestations 5, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2011 Manifestations 5, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2008 Moderns, Royal Cultural Centre, Amman, Jordan organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in collaboration with Embassy of India, Amman, Jordan

2008 Shanghai Art Fair, China presented by Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata

2007 Synchromy 4, Akar Prakar, Calcutta

2007 12th Harmony Art Exhibition, Nehru Centre, Mumbai

2006 Building Bridges, 17th Anniversary Exhibition, Gallerie Ganesha and The Visual Arts Gallery, New Delhi

2005 Synchromy 2, Akar Prakar, Calcutta

1967-95 Participated in the exhibitions of the Birla Academy of Arts and Culture, Calcutta, and the Indian Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi

1971-95 he Exhibited with the Society of Contemporary Artists

1967,79,87 Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta

HONORS AND AWARDS

The late R.N. Chakraborty Memorial Gold Medal

Seven silver medals from the Calcutta University Institute

Seven AFA gold medals

Cash prize, from the Lathan Foundation USA

Ministry of Health Government of India

Rabindra Bharati. Siromani Puraskar

Member of SCA since 1971