Tamal Bhattacharya

In the ever-expanding universe of Indian contemporary art, Tamal Bhattacharya stands as a distinctive voice—one who lets clay, stone, fibre, and found objects narrate their own truths. Born in Kolkata in 1974, and trained at Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan and Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, Bhattacharya carries the rare gift of merging Bengal’s folk sensibilities with an experimental, modern outlook.

What sets him apart is not only his mastery of ceramic installations and murals but also his audacity to reimagine tradition. In 2007, he became the first artist to design an entire Durga Puja pandal and its idols entirely in ceramic for Barisha Club, Kolkata—a feat so unique that it found a place in Professor Tapati Guha-Thakurta’s seminal book In the Name of Goddess and was recognised by UNESCO as part of Bengal’s intangible heritage.

Bhattacharya’s murals adorn the walls of Kolkata’s Taj Hotel, City Centre in New Town, and his expansive works at Artspace India Gallery exemplify his ability to balance scale with intimacy. Recently, his artistic intervention at the historic Kalighat temple underscores his deep engagement with heritage and cultural memory.

Over the years, his art has found homes in solo exhibitions at the Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, and Jogen Chowdhury’s Charubasona Centre for the Arts, Kolkata, as well as international platforms like Barn Art Gallery, UK. At every stage, Bhattacharya challenges the limits of material and form—his eclectic practice ranges from paper pulp to junk materials, cane to fibre glass, reflecting his belief that everyday objects hold infinite potential for transformation. Whether monumental or intimate, every piece invites us to pause, to feel, and to experience a moment of quiet transcendence.

For Bhattacharya, working with clay and matter is not just craft, but catharsis. He speaks of art as a source of comfort and peace—a way to touch divinity through the physical act of making. In his hands, ordinary matter is reborn as vessels of memory, faith, and beauty.

Tamal Bhattacharya is an artist of exceptional skill and deep sensitivity—an explorer who reminds us that art is not bound by material or form, but by imagination, spirit, and the courage to see beauty in all things.

At Inkroot Studio, we celebrate Tamal Bhattacharya not just as a ceramicist or muralist, but as a visionary who transforms art into a dialogue between heritage and experimentation, devotion and play, permanence and fragility.