Ocula the best in contemporary art logo
Ocula the best in contemporary art icon.
Ocula the best in contemporary art icon.
Discover the Best of Contemporary Art Now
Ocula discover the best in contemporary art icon.
  • Gallery Membership
  • About
  • EN
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • My Ocula
    • Notifications
    • Profile
    • Following
    • Favourites
    • Logout
  • Ocula discover the best in contemporary art icon.
Ocula the best in contemporary art logo
  • Home
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Galleries
    • Galleries
    • Institutions
  • Exhibitions
    • Exhibitions
    • Viewing Rooms
  • Fairs
  • Cities
  • Advisory
    • Latest
    • Advisory Perspectives
    • Curated Selections
    • Advisory Picks
    • About
    • Services
  • Magazine
    • Latest
    • Conversations
    • Features
    • Insights
    • News
    • Photologs
    • Contributors
    • Publications
    • 中文
  • Gallery Membership
  • About
  • EN
Logout Login
My Ocula Sign Up
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Follow
Mumbai, India
  • Home
  • Exhibitions
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Magazine
  • Advisory
  • Art Fairs
  • Press
  • Video & Audio
  • Events
  • Location
  • Close

Abir Karmakar

Follow

b. 1977, India

Abir Karmakar became known for his voyeuristic self-portraits that saw him place his body in intimate settings. His oil paintings evoked an inward looking world replete with imagined situations and layers of psychosomatic content. His approach in more recent paintings is as sophisticated a performance as his flamboyant narcissism was in the preceding phases of his career. The body's urges and discontents, its shapes and impressions, leak beyond their physical confines and imprint themselves on objects and across spaces. The domestic interior records the extended presence of the bodied self, which claims it as habitation and, indeed, as habitat. 

Read More

Karmakar’s interiors are sumptuous and mysterious; and even when they are sometimes tawdry, he elevates them with the burnished light glowing through a yellow curtain. Sources of deep, recessive light—warm and mellow, luminous behind shades—are ubiquitous in these paintings, marking Karmakar’s homage to the Old Masters, to Rembrandt and Vermeer. But the masters are not trapped in reverent emulation; instead, they are brought back into the currency of living exchange through citation and adaptation. 

Karmakar is clearly drawn to the primacy of idea; the vehicle of realism and specifics of technique, though honed to a craft-like skill, are secondary. His paintings of single, life-sized doors are based on the conceptualization of the door as an autonomous entity, extracted from the wider narrative and compositional syntax of the interior. He covers the surface of the door with meticulously painted stains, scratches, and traces of dirt, numerous marks that not only speak of the door’s function, but also the cultural and social origin of its user. The realistic rendition of the door lures the beholder into surrendering to the visual illusion of an infinite space behind

Text courtesy Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke.

Recent Exhibitions

Contemporary art exhibition, Group Exhibition, RED at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, India Closed 14 January–31 March 2021 Group Exhibition RED
Contemporary art exhibition, Curated by Birgid Uccia, Displacement at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, India Closed 15 November 2017–28 February 2018 Curated by Birgid Uccia Displacement
Contemporary art exhibition, Abir Karmakar, Room, Interrupted in Passage at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, India Closed 5 December 2012–10 January 2013 Abir Karmakar Room, Interrupted in Passage

Recent Artworks

View All (14)
Surface by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting, works on paper
Abir Karmakar Surface, 2020 Oil on canvas
121.9 x 91.4 cm
Sold
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Surface 2 by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting, works on paper
Abir Karmakar Surface 2, 2020 Oil on canvas
91.4 x 76.2 cm
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke Contact Gallery
Surface 1 by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting, works on paper
Abir Karmakar Surface 1, 2020 Oil on canvas
91.4 x 76.2 cm
Sold
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Door V by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting
Abir Karmakar Door V, 2018 Oil on canvas
213 x 107 cm
Sold
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Door IV by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting
Abir Karmakar Door IV, 2018 Oil on canvas
213 x 91 cm
Sold
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Home (Wall III / Wall IV) by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting
Abir Karmakar Home (Wall III / Wall IV), 2016 Oil on canvas
287 x 533 cm
Sold
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Home (Wall V) by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting
Abir Karmakar Home (Wall V), 2016 Oil on canvas
259 x 601 cm
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke Contact Gallery
Home (Wall II) by Abir Karmakar contemporary artwork painting
Abir Karmakar Home (Wall II), 2016 Oil on canvas
287 x 302 cm
Sold
Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
Load More
No results found.
Recent Artworks View All (14) Recent Artworks

Abir Karmakar In Ocula Magazine

Asia Society Triennial Part Two is a Mixed Success Ocula Feature Asia Society Triennial Part Two is a Mixed Success By Vivian Chui, New York

New York City's Asia Society Museum ushered in the spring season by unveiling the second and final chapter of its inaugural triennial.

Fade out copy.
Read More

Abir Karmakar In Related Press

A Room with a View: Abir Karmakar’s Displacement by Roshan Kumar Mogali Related Press A Room with a View: Abir Karmakar’s Displacement by Roshan Kumar Mogali 9 January 2018, BOMB

For the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2016, Abir Karmakar covered the interior walls of Kashi Art Gallery, a restored colonial Dutch house, with seven floor-to-ceiling paintings.

Fade out copy.
Read More
Walk Through A Stranger's Home Related Press Walk Through A Stranger's Home 12 November 2017, mid-day

While the residents of this home, evidently furnished according to middle-class taste, are never to be seen, the paintings do not seem de-peopled. In fact, there is a sense of intimacy that Karmakar c

Fade out copy.
Read More
'Forming in the pupil of an eye,' Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 Related Press 'Forming in the pupil of an eye,' Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 17 January 2017, Art Agenda

This edition of KMB maintains its artist-led approach, entrusting visitors to explore art for themselves and to get lost in a multiplicity of ideas.

Fade out copy.
Read More
Related Press Read More (3) In Related Press

Abir Karmakar In Video & Audio

Meet Your Artist: Abir Karmakar I Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 Related Video & Audio Meet Your Artist: Abir Karmakar I Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 29 January 2017, Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Working from photos of domestic spaces, Abir Karmakar studies the traditions of painting and its varying forms of spatial construction. Creating a photorealistic installation reminiscent of trompe l'o

Fade out copy.
View More
About Ocula
About Team My Ocula Contact Us Careers
Ocula Advisory
To find out more click here
Advertise
Request Media Kit
Quick Sign Up
To make artwork enquiries, follow artists & galleries, save & share artworks and receive our newsletter.
Sign Up
Gallery Membership
In order to present the best of contemporary art our gallery membership is by application or invitation only. Admission is determined by a select group of influential gallerists by vote. Institutions are also welcome to join the Ocula gallery network. For more information
click here.
Ocula the best in contemporary art logo
© 2022 Ocula Limited Terms & Conditions Copyright Policy Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Sign Up
I forgot my password
You can unsubscribe anytime at: [email protected] or click unsubscribe in the email.

Your personal data is held in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Login
Artists
    Galleries
      Skip
      You can manage the artists and galleries you follow in My Ocula/Following
      Already an Ocula registered user?
      Login
      Login

      We have sent you an email containing a link to reset your password. Simply click the link and enter your new password to complete this process.

      Return to Login.
      Close