The Open Studio / Pritesh Bhowmick
Pritesh Bhowmick
Beneath the coating, a becoming
Under the peeling yellow, two bodies rest in grey smoke
Mustard plaster cracks open like old wall paint in the rain.
Beneath it, a grey haze keeps two bodies close.
Brown legs rise straight into the dark. A pink cloth catches the light.
A blue chest rests, slow with breath.
White edges show where the skin of the wall was pulled away.
Something is still coming through.
The work
Pritesh Bhowmick, of the Sir JJ School of Art, paints on a wooden panel shaped like the letter L. He builds the surface in layers of plaster and acrylic. Then he peels parts away. Here a yellow coat breaks open. Under it, grey smoke holds two bodies lying close together. One lifts brown legs into the dark. Bhowmick's work begins in memory and in the lasting mark of sexual harassment. It asks how queer identity is shown, hidden and changed.
In the artist’s words
“My work seeks to show queerness not as a fixed category but as an evolving, multi-layered process of becoming. My process is one of layering and unveiling. I peel away surfaces, add new strata and construct figures that move fluidly between realism and allegory. This mirrors how identities are revealed, concealed and reshaped, whether by personal choice or social pressure.”
- Theme
- Queer identity and becoming
- Material
- Mixed media: acrylic and plaster on wood
- Size
- 76.2 × 71 cm
- Year
- 2026
- Edition
- 1 of 1
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Sir JJ school of art
- From
- Nabadwip
- Code
- RC-3723
