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Banoj Mohanty

Born in 1974, Rourkela, Orissa, Banoj Mohanty did his BFA in B.K.College of Arts and Crafts, Bhuvaneswar and MFA in painting from Rai University, New Delhi. His paintings show a great affinity for the ritualistic images of Orissa. Banoj in his collage dominated works deals mostly with human beings caught in urban situations that force them to change attitudes like chameleons. He has participated in several shows in Delhi and elsewhere. His works have found space in major collections in India an abroad. Banoj lives and works in Delhi.

How did Banoj Mohanty get initiation in art?

“In my childhood I watched my mother doing a lot of craft works. She used to stitch and make a lot of interesting images using available materials around her. I was interested in her works and slowly I realized that I too have the ability to draw some images. There were a lot of calendar pictures around. I liked the image of Lord Ganesh and used to draw various forms of Ganesh. People who came to visit us admired my drawings and that gave me some confidence. In school time itself I realized that I could draw well.”

Who exactly initiated him to art?

“I would say my mother initiated me to art because when I reached my twelfth class, she asked me to look for further education in art. In Rourkela city there was one private art institution called ‘Sunflower Art School’. I was enrolled as student there and the artist late Jaspal Singh who used to run the school took special interest in me. He taught me to perfect my drawing and colour sense.”

Where and how Banoj academically pursue his art studies?

“I joined B.K.College of Arts and Crafts, Bhuvaneswar in 1996 as a BFA student and I specialized in painting. Manas Ranjan Jena and Byomakesh Mohanty were the two teachers who directed towards art and its history. They taught me to look at paintings and get inspiration from the life around. I used to do a lot of collages at that point of time and I found Picasso’s collages of the cubist period very interesting. It was not that Picasso did collages that I too wanted to do collages. But somehow collages attracted me at that point of time.”

How was his earlier works like?

“My earlier paintings were mostly collages. I started taking photographs of the same collages and then worked on them as oil paintings. I did a lot of works in mixed media. I took a great interest in photography at that time and used photographs to build the surfaces of my paintings. I got the opportunity to participate in some of the shows took place outside Bhuvaneswar and it gave me confidence to come out of my native city and experiment more with my works.”

When did Banoj come to Delhi and how did his paintings evolve?

“I came to Delhi in 2003 and was looking for opportunities to develop my career as an artist. I joined the Rai Foundation as an MFA student in painting. I had a few gifted teachers to guide me there and they directed me towards developing my art language. I did a lot of paintings and watercolours during my Rai days. Shifting my location from Orissa to Delhi, in many ways expanded my horizons. I started dealing with human situations in my paintings. Then I found an easily available surface that is sheets from magazines and newspapers. I started using them profusely. This evolved as a new way of making painterly collages.”

What are his new paintings like?

“In my paintings I deal with human situations and relationships. Delhi life gives me a lot of impressions on human relationships. Here, I feel that human beings have different faces. They keep changing. My effort is to capture these changing moods of human faces. To achieve this I contrast them with ritualistic icons that look same at all the times. There is a constant sense of comparison in my works. I juxtapose human faces with different motifs. All my new works deal with these situations.”

Who found him out in Delhi?

“I was struggling to find a foothold in Delhi after my education. One day I happened to meet Bhavna Kakkar of Art Konsult Gallery and she took a great interest in my work. She introduced me and my works to Siddharth Tagore. He too liked my works and started promoting and supporting me to do works. They included me in several shows and found collectors for my works.”

Where do we find Banoj in coming two years?

“I am doing my paintings and would be doing the same in the coming years. I want to experiment with surfaces and mediums. I like working on paper as well as on canvas.”