Innermost Core of All Loneliness Make Me Crazy to Paint
Puja Sarkar is an Indian Visual Artist, Curator and Social Activist based in Kolkata. She received B.V.A and MFA degree in Painting from the Faculty of Visual Arts at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India. After completing Art College, Puja has been actively working as a full-time artist for 16 years now. She is also a well-known art educator and engaged with various government and private institutions. Puja works for socio-cultural issues for the betterment/upliftment of the underprivileged children and contributes her best effort in this regard. Since 2009, she also founded ‘SMS - A Group of Artists’, a well-known artistic and social organization (www.smsgroupartist.com)
She got national award (Junior Fellowship) from Ministry of Culture, Gov.t of India in 2022. Her works have been exhibited in many international exhibitions like in Italy, London, UK, Korea, USA, Bangladesh (including solo shows) and participated in more than 100 national exhibitions, including eighty sponsored shows, and in national and international art fairs, painting camps, and workshops. She has been invited as a Judge in many prestigious art events in India.
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Indian visual artist and social activist Puja Sarkar is a feminist who adores artworks of Frida Kahlo, enjoys reinterpreting her life from a feminist perspective and combining pop art elements with surrealist ideas in a daring and colorful way. She paints to express herself, her untold story, and her feelings. Since childhood, she has faced a lot of restrictions, strict discipline, and loneliness. she was spending her life with detachment from outside incidents of the materialistic world. her intimation grew up with many intimate objects surrounding her with her silent like bags, combs, lipstick, mobile phones, safety pins, umbrellas, footwear, eyeglasses, etc., and some forms of human body parts that attract me. Her creations become quasi-autobiographical reinterpretations with inanimate objects which are converted into animated things with all her feelings and passion, like a living being.
As a full-time artist, she has been engaged herself to experiment with bright colours and ingenious use of textures which manipulated aptly in her paintings. Henri Matisse's colour scheme serves as an influence for Puja, who uses brushes, rollers, inks, and paints spontaneously to create a dazzling canvas.
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Some of her important participations have been:
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In 2024, she was invited in international curated show” Interchange” by Florence Art Contemporary Gallery in ITALY and Subjective Art Festival by HUG at Lume Studios, New York, USA. She also participated in international show “Brushing Stigma Away” by ARTIT artist community, London, United Kingdom, and very prestigious international show “Blue Planet Grassroots Global Art Event”, also featured in Blue Planet collective book, podcast and documentary film by Odyssey Global Media, London, United Kingdom. She also participated in series themed exhibition, “THE PAST” “RED”, “THE SKY”, “PAIN AND SORROW”, by Move in Colors, an International Non-Profit Art Association, ITALY. Also She got Special Mention for the “THE PAST” and “RED” Show, MOVE IN COLORS, ITALY, 2024. In 2024, she got Silver Medal Award from 27 ART PPOINT, Jaipur and she got “Best Artwork” Award in an International Women’s Art Award & Exhibition, Organized by ART INDIA GALLERY, New Delhi, India. In 2023, she was invited by the Kerala Lalit Kala Academy for a ‘National Art Residency Program’. In 2022, she was awarded a Junior Fellowship in Painting 2019–2020 by the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT), Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, New Delhi. In 2021, she participated in the international art show, sponsored and organized by the Daejeon International Arts Exchange Association in KOREA. In 2019, as an Indian Woman Artist, she has won the very prestigious global contest – “HER STORY” - Winner Women Artist, which celebrates the idea of feminism, women's empowerment, and social responsibility around the world, organized and sponsored by SeeMe Gallery, USA. Her story and works were on digital display in the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea, New York, United States. In 2017, she was invited and participated in National Painting Camp, Sponsored & Organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, Regional Centre (Kolkata), at Pobitora, Guwahati, Assam. In 2016, She was invited artist of “Creators Deserve to be Seen" Project” -- The Beauty of Art - Sponsored by SeeMe Gallery at Times Square New York, NY, USA. In 2015, she was the ‘‘The Voice of the Artist '' of SCOPE Art Fair, Sponsored by Scope Art at Miami Beach, FLORIDA, USA. In 2010, she received a prestigious award that was given by Book Art Press, New York, USA. In 2008, she was invited to a prestigious show of artists from Chittagong and Kolkata titled 'Vicinity', which was sponsored and organized by the Assistant High Commission of India in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Her artwork has been featured in various publications nationally and globally. Puja also illustrates for magazines. Her artworks are in several private collections in India and abroad.
Curated Art Events by Puja Sarkar
Puja has been actively working as a curator for more than a decade. She has already curated some significant exhibitions, such as ‘Empathy’ (2020), comprising established Indian contemporary artists; ‘Concave & Convex’ (2021), an international sculpture show; and “Vibrant Hues, Spirited Forms’’ (2023), “Winter Carnival (2025), where she showcased both established and emerging artists. She has conducted numerous talk shows and webinars on visual art practice in India. She is the Founder Director of ‘SMS - A Group of Artists,’ a reputed art and socio-cultural organization that promotes emerging talents and actively participates in social works.
Puja has been frequently invited by various institutions and organizations to be part of the judging committee for selecting emerging talents in the field of visual arts.
Puja lives and works in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
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