Awards & Honours
- 1986: National Award, For Painting
- 1986: State Government Award, Kolkata
- 1986: Senior Fellowship in the field of Visual Art, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India.
- 1984: Member, Society of Contemporary Artists
- 1975-77: Scholarship, Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata.
Aditya Basak (Born 14 March 1953 in North Kolkata) is an Indian painter known for visually exploring fantasy, subconscious experience, and the unsettling edges of reality. A graduate of the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta, where he received a scholarship and completed his studies in 1977, Basak began his artistic career with a strong academic foundation that he later pushed toward more experimental and psychological terrain. Since 1984 he has been a member of the Society of Contemporary Artists, Calcutta, aligning his practice with key currents in post-independence Bengali and Indian contemporary art.
Basak’s paintings often fuse harsh, real-world circumstances with bizarre, dream-like imagery, giving form to “crude and jarring realities” that appear filtered through the subconscious and unconscious mind. This approach lends his work a haunting, sometimes disturbing quality, marked by a fascination with fantasy, illusion, and the darker recesses of human experience. He has participated in important exhibitions such as “Art of Bengal” at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, anniversary shows marking 50 years of India’s independence, thematic exhibitions on Calcutta, and international displays including shows at Aicon Art Gallery, New York.
Exhibitions
- 1999: Solo exhibition, Admin One Gallery, New York
- 1999: Exhibition of Contemporary Bengal Artists, Dhaka
- 2000: Solo exhibition, Art Today, New Delhi
- 2001: Art of Bengal, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
- 2002: Art of Bengal, CIMA, Kolkata
- 2002: Art on Paper, CIMA, Kolkata
- 2002: Solo exhibition organized by Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai
- 2003: Solo exhibition, Art World, Chennai
- 2004: Solo exhibition, Art World, Chennai
- 2006: Solo exhibition, Anant Art, New Delhi
- 2008: Solo show, Akar Prakar, Kolkata
- 2008: Solo show, Tamarind Art Gallery, New York
- 2014: Myth Making, Akar Prakar, Kolkata
- Various years: Art of Bengal, CIMA/NGMA
Collection
- KMOMA (Kolkata Museum of Modern Art), Kolkata
Over the course of his career, Basak has received several notable distinctions, including a scholarship from the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta, a Senior Fellowship in Visual Art from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and the Lalit Kala Akademi National Award for Painting. His work has been widely shown in India and abroad and is recognized for its ability to probe the human psyche while maintaining a strong link to the visual and poetic traditions of modern Bengal..