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.
