Recently, when Aninda Dey exhibited his paintings at Chitra Santhe, an art exhibition that happens every year in Bengaluru, people fell in love with his charcoal sketches. An analytics manager in a private company and a self-taught artist, Aninda, says, "My love for art began when I was in school. Like most students, I couldn't continue sketching or painting when I was in college because of the pressure to focus on academics. After completing my post-graduation, I got a job, I had more time to spare and the love for sketching resumed."
But this time, Aninda started sketching and painting using charcoal. He says, "With charcoal, you can really experiment quite a bit. The thing is, you have to know how to play with the various shades, or else the painting will have no meaning. I learnt entirely by watching YouTube channels and by reading articles on charcoal painting."
Aninda has created over 30 different sketches using charcoal and he had the sent best ones for approval to Chitra Santhe. The jury selected ten of them and exhibited them at the art exhibition. "All my sketches or paintings have a story behind them. Since we use charcoal and zero colours, it become a bit challenging to express their emotions in these sketches," says Aninda, who is an alumnus of IIIT Kolkata.
Further, Aninda wants to participate in more and more exhibitions. "Chitra Santhe was the first exhibition for me and I never expected to get selected as there are thousands of other artists who try to exhibit their work. I had applied last year also to exhibit in Chitra Santhe but that did not happen. But this time it was a dream come true for me."
