At 39, Anukta Mukherjee Ghosh decided to restart her career from scratch. In spite of leading a successful corporate life, she felt the need to “go back to something I love so much”. A decade later, she is one of India’s better-known independent artists, who will be exhibiting her work at the upcoming Florence Biennale in Italy in October. Painting out of her studio in Ballygunge, Anukta’s portfolio is replete with realism, with faces and places grappling with the in-betweenness of existence.
“My idea is to take the mundane and make it extraordinary,” says Anukta, whose workspace has very little of the chaos that one would associate with someone who paints four to five hours every day. A lot of the focus in her art is on India, on the struggles of the common Indian: “I like to paint my country as it is, but also to put a positive spin on things. There’s too much negativity around us. When I paint, I try to make myself happy through the process, and not just my potential audience.”
From ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata to Chourangi in London
Anukta attending the launch party of ITC Royal Bengal, where three of her paintings are on display
Born in Chandernagore, Anukta grew up as a Delhi girl, reluctantly opting for a pragmatic course on hotel management from IHM instead of an idealistic art degree from Mumbai’s J.J. College, before beginning her corporate journey. After seven years with ITC Hotels, she had another seven-year stint at Regus (in Kolkata) that she helmed from the project stage, which is when she made the choice to switch to painting full-time. Today, three of her paintings adorn ITC Royal Bengal in Tangra, including 'Kolkata Kaleidoscope' (next to Ottima Cucina Italiana), a depiction of a rickshaw that is a testament to the subtlety of lines and forms. “My life came full circle when I was commissioned by ITC,” smiles Anukta, whose first formal art training came in 2012 through evening classes in Bhowanipore. Additionally, she also undertook a two-year online diploma from the London Art College to refine her understanding of her art.
Two of the six paintings that Anukta prepared for Anjan Chatterjee’s Chourangi restaurant in London
One of the many visitors to Royal Bengal who was impressed with Anukta’s rickshaw painting was restaurateur Anjan Chatterjee, who reached out to her shortly after. “We had several rigorous brainstorming sessions and I eventually worked on six paintings for his London restaurant, Chourangi,” recalls Anukta, whose art also finds pride of place in homes and corporate offices across the US, Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand and Dubai. It is a far cry from the days when Anukta would have occasional exhibitions at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (September 2009) when she was still at Regus or the Chemould Art Gallery in Park Street (January and August 2014) when she had just started tiptoeing her way into the vast artistic landscape of the country.
A turning point arrived in November 2015 when Anukta exhibited at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai. “I didn’t have enough money to take a full booth. So, I teamed up with a few other artists and shared space. That experience helped me gauge my talent at the national level. I understood that I couldn’t be limited to the artistic confines of Kolkata,” explains Anukta. With no connections or background in art, Anukta slogged ahead, even as many around her asked her about the wisdom in quitting a cushy corporate job. Some even assumed that her husband was supporting her financially, taking no note of how Anukta had always been fiercely independent.
‘My Brush with Bollywood’ impressed Amitabh Bachchan and ‘Magan’ was made into a Government of India mascot
Two of the paintings that make up Anukta’s ‘My Brush with Bollywood’
“How many people can do something creative and be so good at it?!” was one of the many messages of complete confidence that Anukta received from a friend, one that gave her extra motivation to keep going. In 2016, Anukta painted a plein-air calendar collection for a boutique hotel in Shimla, which effortlessly captures the interplay between moods and objects. Two years later, Anukta’s expansive Bollywood series called “My Brush with Bollywood” — with paintings championing select Hindi blockbusters from multiple decades — got featured in Amitabh Bachchan’s official blog. From Mughal-e-Azam to Sholay, from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to Lagaan, the series mixes nostalgia with nuance, with everything from the colour scheme to the fonts capturing the intricacies of Bollywood.
Anukta being felicitated by Suresh Prabhu in 2019
In 2019, Anukta’s “Magan”, which shows women “enrapt in the ecstasy of dance”, was chosen by the Government of India as a mascot for its “Womaniya on Government e-Marketplace” project. Anukta was subsequently felicitated by Suresh Prabhu, former Union minister,. The same year, Anukta was in the UAE to showcase her art at World Art Dubai. Presently, she is gearing up for the XIV Florence Biennale, one of the world’s leading contemporary art exhibitions. It is held under the patronage of the European Parliament, the Italian Commission for UNESCO, the Italian Ministry of Culture, among others. For this year, the theme is “I am You”, which Anukta, in her typical way, has given a refreshing interpretation: “I’ll be taking four paintings to Florence as part of a series called ‘Reflections’. Each painting has my portrait on it, but it’s not an act of vanity! In the paintings, I mirror my personal and collective consciousness, embracing various identities in relation to my surroundings. I have portrayed my own self as a microcosmic aspect of the vast universe. In the first, it’s about my instinctive bond with other women. In the second, it’s about seeing one woman in the context of traditionally masculine roles like those of fighter pilots, construction workers or sports referees. In the third, it’s about the connection between me and nature. And finally, it’s about my place in the larger realm of culture, where I’m surrounded by iconic monuments from around the world even as the Kantha stitching on my blouse and sari reminds the viewer of my origins.”
When put on the spot to choose the painting that has been the closest to her heart, Anukta strays from her most celebrated works to pick something more intimate and personal. “One of my clients in Mumbai who had already bought many of my works once sent me a photo of his wife and asked me to paint it as realistically as possible. It was only when I finished the work that I realised that his wife was no more and that the painting was his way of assuring himself that she was still around. His exact words to me were: ‘Anukta, thank you, you’ve truly made her come alive.’” describes Anukta, whose illustrations on Varanasi and Durga Puja also underline the poignancy of her portraits.
‘What can be created in a jiffy can also be forgotten in a jiffy’
A glimpse of Anukta’s Ballygunge studio, which includes the paintings she will be exhibiting at October’s Florence Biennale
Does Anukta worry that this poignancy may soon be outsourced to Artificial Intelligence (AI)? That a few years from now, her client in Mumbai might go to Midjourney and not her? “I don’t see AI as a threat,” responds Anukta, before adding: “Just as photography didn’t kill art but accentuated it in many ways, I expect AI to do the same. Plus, with AI, it takes only a few seconds to make something that an artist would pour their heart and soul into for days, if not months. That sort of an investment has an emotional value for the buyers, too. The way I see it, what can be created in a jiffy can also be forgotten in a jiffy.”
When she is not immersed in painting, Anukta loves long-distance running and trekking. She also reads whenever she can, although she confesses that “my reading has gone down a fair bit due to Netflix”. Content and grateful for her life in Kolkata, Anukta does not shy away when it comes to detailing the artistic limitations of the city: “People appreciate art in Kolkata, but don’t support it enough. Patronage, which usually comes with economic development, isn’t democratic in Kolkata, and nor is access. Given the choice, I’d love to exhibit more often in Kolkata because transporting my work is a logistical nightmare. But more often than not, I’ve got to venture outside the city.”
According to Anukta, art has “put me more in touch with my spiritual self”. It has also made her more open, no pun intended, to looking at the bigger picture. “You realise that life as an artist has precarity built into it. You’re not going to get a monthly salary. Demand for work will be up and down and there are bound to be lean periods. The key is to keep working without trying to second guess what the market or the audience wants. As long as you’re authentic in what you paint, you give yourself a good chance,” she says.
‘Painting is more about discovery than design’
For Anukta, painting is a lot about providing “fleeting moments of happiness”
While most of her paintings involve working with acrylics and oils (most convenient for exhibitions), Anukta is also fond of water colours, pen sketches and doodles. Once in a while, she will even paint with coffee, all in a bid to capture “fleeting moments of happiness not in the paintings but through them”.
Being where she is now, does Anukta wish she had made her professional transition earlier? “Yes, though I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my corporate life, I wish I had made the switch sooner, but I’m glad I made the move nonetheless. Having said that, for prospective artists, it always helps when you have a financial base to branch out from. Otherwise things can get really hard,” says Anukta. Before wrapping up, she provides an insight or two into her creative process, something artists tend to sidestep: “I’m not someone who plans things to the tee. Painting is more about discovery than design for me. Of course, I have a good idea of what I’m going to do before I start painting. I paint with a combination of sound technical skills and intuition. But I’m open to changing my mind or evolving during the process. I don’t believe in premeditating too much. I’d rather let the magic happen on the canvas, allowing things to fall into place.”