Arindam Chatterjee’s new solo explores the sub-human and the brutality of existence

In his latest solo exhibition, অ ব মা ন ব / a v a m ā n a v a, artist Arindam Chatterjee turns inward to confront the unsettling truths that lie beneath the surface of human experience. Comprising around thirty works—mostly on paper—the show unfolds as a psychological and moral inquiry into the fragile boundary between the human and the sub-human. Drawing on Francis Bacon’s idea of the “Brutality of Fact”, Chatterjee tears away the comforting veils of representation to reveal an emotional and existential rawness. His figures—part human, part mythic—hover in an in-between space where instinct, vulnerability, and violence coexist. Each work feels like a confrontation with truth itself: unfinished, unfamiliar, and unflinching. A painter who began in abstraction before turning to figuration in the mid-2000s, Chatterjee has forged a language uniquely his own—one that fuses intense pigmentation, layered surfaces, and poignant irony.

His practice bridges the mythological and the contemporary, using form to navigate the social and political anxieties of our time. The word অ ব মা ন ব (a v a m ā n a v a) is borrowed from Rabindranath Tagore, who used it to describe a “sub-human” state—an existence suspended between base instinct and awakened consciousness. It is within this tension that Chatterjee situates his art, evoking jijñāsā (the desire to know), terror, and a haunting sense of recognition.

Reflecting on the show, Richa Agarwal, CEO of Emami Art, shared, “Following the success of Arindam Chatterjee’s large-scale show in 2023, we are delighted to present his new body of work, marked by a deeper introspection and emotional restraint. Though widely admired, Chatterjee remains a deeply private artist—his paintings speak where words retreat. This exhibition, much like his earlier one, is bound to leave a lasting impression on viewers.

”