Suman Chandra is an artist and observer from West Bengal, India. His practice draws from a decade of extensive field research on colliery landscapes and their influence on communities and cultures in the periphery.
His visual vocabulary often explores the tension between bleak, formidable terrain and a sense of poetry within it. A cohesive thread runs through the materiality of his work, which uses organic materials found in mining zones such as coal dust, soil and gas emissions rising from surface cracks above a burning mine. These materials act as both medium and document, linking the visual language of his work to the geological and social changes unfolding in these landscapes.
Chandra received his MFA from Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, and his work has been recognized with the Elizabeth Greenshield grant, Hyundai’s Art for Hope award and CIMA’s solo show award, among several other honors and fellowships.
CV
EXHIBITIONS
2025, Shifting Paradigms: 1980s – 2025, CIMA Gallery, Kolkata
2024, Fantastic Realities and Beyond, CIMA Gallery, Kolkata
2024, Art for Hope by Hyundai, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi
2023, Silent Vision (SOLO), CIMA Gallery, Kolkata
2022, CIMA Awards Show, Gem Cinema Hall, Kolkata
2021, Terrain Offline org. by terrain.art, Bikaner House, New Delhi
2021, Patterns of Intensity, curated by Ranjit Koskote, Art Alive
Gallery, New Delhi
2020, India Art Fair (Booth B-16), New Delhi
2019, What’s Contemporary, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
2019, MSU group exhibition, Vadodara
2019, CIMA Annual Show, Kolkata
2018, Birla Academy of Art and Culture Annual Show, Kolkata
2018, Black and White (Cycle 17), Piramal Art Residency, Mumbai
2018, SSVAD group exhibition, Santiniketan Society of Visual Arts
and Design
2016-17, Camlin Art Foundation All-India Art Exhibition, National
2016-17, Students’ Biennale, Kochi-Muziris
2016, SSVAD Annual Exhibition, Santiniketan
2015, Camlin Art Foundation All-India Art Exhibition, Eastern Zone
2015, Annual Exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
2014-15, Students’ Biennale, Kochi-Muziris
2015, Kala Bhavana 4th Year Students Group Exhibition, Gorky
Sadan, Kolkata
2014, Group Exhibition, ICCR, Kolkata
2013, Academy of Fine Arts Group Exhibition, Kolkata
2012, Camel Art Foundation All-India Art Exhibition, Eastern Zone
AWARDS
2024, Art for Hope Award, Hyundai Motor India Foundation
2022, CIMA Award, Kolkata
2021-22, KCC Art Fellowship, Kolkata
2018, MHRD National Scholarship, Ministry of Education
2017, Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grantee, Canada
2016, Kala Sakshi Scholarship
2016, Best in Painting, Santiniketan Society for Visual Arts & Design
2013, Award winner of Camlin Art Foundation national exhibition
2012, Best in Watercolour (Eastern Zone), Camel Art Foundation
2011, Kala Bhavana merit scholarship, Santiniketan
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2024-25, Head Production Coordinator (Santiniketan), Bengal Biennale
EDUCATION
2017, MFA in Painting, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University
2015, BFA in Painting, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University
GROUP PROJECTS/WORKSHOPS
2017, Site-specific group project under Prof. Sanchayan Ghosh,
Daronda, West Bengal
2016, Cartist Automobile Art Festival, Jaipur
2016, Site-specific group project in Visakhapatnam under Prof.
Sanchayan Ghosh, curated by Nomam Ammouri, Students’
Biennale in Kochi-Muziris
2014, CAVA National Workshop, Chamarajendra Govt. College of
Visual Arts, Mysore