PROKASH KARMAKAR

He was born in Calcutta, West Bengal in 1935. His father Prahlad Karmokar was a great name in pre-independence Indian art. Prokash grew up in a studio atmosphere. His father died when he was only 13 years of age. He had experienced the devastation of World War II, the great Bengal famine of 1943, and witnessed the holocaust of communal riots that culminated in the partition of India. Founder Member of Society of Contemporary Artist, Calcutta. He was also the Founder Member of Calcutta Painters group. He lives and works in Howrah. His paintings are in a way, remembrance of things past. Some of them are very personal, others are recollected from nightmares rather than dreams, and some are from the darkest moments of human history. He is one of the very few artists in India who used everyday disorder as a vehicle to express his feelings with visionary intensity. He also painted landscapes, depicting lush tropical vegetation, hills and valleys, seascapes and mangroves in their wild diversity. Prokash's paintings also often centre on the female, who is variously a victim and a temptress. She is the ultimate female, looking out at the spectator either with wide-eyed simulated innocence or with wanton smoky-eyed lust.