Area of Practice

Visual Artist, Researcher

Education

BA, MA in Experimental Psychology (University of Calcutta)

MFA in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice, (Gray’s School of Art, Scotland, UK) Recipient of Saltire Scholarship by Scottish Government.

 Ph.D. in contemporary painting, phenomenological embodiment, metaphor, and practice-based research granted by Manipal Academy of Higher education.
Thesis Title: Exploring the metaphoric and embodied nature of traces and marks on contemporary painting Insights from Practice.

Work Experience

Published academic articles in the Journal of Aesthetic Education (Upcoming, University of Illinois Press), Journal of Visual Art Practice (Taylor and Francis) Leonardo (MIT Press), Visual Inquiry and Drawing, research theory and Practice (intellect) amongst others. Following are some of the recent publications.

Material Metaphor and Reflexivity in Contemporary Painting: A Practice-based Investigation, Asmita Sarkar, Aileen Blaney

Accepted in Journal of Aesthetic Education https://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/?id=jae (University of Illinois Press)

Painted Spaces: An Exploration through Embodied and Expansive Practice, Asmita Sarkar. in the Journal of Visual Art Practice https://doi.org/10.1080/14702029.2022.2056800 https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rjvp20 (Taylor and Francis Journal)

The flesh of imagination: locating materiality in biology inspired visual art, Asmita Sarkar, Aileen Blaney Leonardo (2022) 55 (2): 140–144. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_02102

Dark Material and the Indexical in the Drawings of Prabhakar Pachpute, Asmita Sarkar TRACEY, [S.l.], v. 15, n. 1, p. 1-11, may 2021. ISSN 1742-3570. Available at: https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/TRACEY/article/view/3016 published by Loughborough University, Loughborough, England.

Ecology of site-specific painting and drawing: Embodied and empathic mark-making in urban cites, Asmita Sarkar June 2021 Visual Inquiry, https://doi.org/10.1386/vi_00023_1 (intellect Press, Bristol, UK)

Seeking theory-practice relations between humanities and fine-arts through practice of painting, Asmita Sarkar Rupkatha Journal of interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I DOI: https://rupkatha.com/V12/n5/rioc1s1n5.pdf

The Phenomenal and the Cultural in Contemporary Paintings from Indian Diaspora: Published in The Chitrolekha Journal on Art and Design Volume 4, Number 2, 2020 I Full Text PDF (http://chitrolekha.com/v4n207/

Exploring drawing as a generative act: Articulating thought processes in the context of interdisciplinary approaches to drawing pedagogy, Asmita Sarkar Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice, Intellect publishing Volume 2, Number 1, 1 April 2016, pp. 157-173(17), https://doi.org/10.1386/drtp.2.1.157_1 (intellect Publishing, Bristol UK)

Conference presentation

• 1st Rupkatha International Open Conference on Recent Advances in Interdisciplinary Humanities (Virtual)2020. Paper title: Title: Seeking theory-practice relation between humanities and fine art through the practice of painting. The abstract can be found at the following link http://rioc.rupkatha.com/1st-rioc-abstracts-day-1-20-

• Drawing Matters Symposium York UK: Organized by Culture of Making Group, School of Art, Design and Computer Science, York St John University. York UK 14th July 2017. Paper Title: Drawing Ecology: Current thinking about ecology and theorization of site-specific drawing practice.

• CCCAD first International Conference on Creativity and Cognition in Art and Design, Bangalore, India organized by National Institute of Design and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience, http://www.icccad.com/ 19.01.2017-21.01.2017
Paper title: How recent theories of metaphor coming from cognitive psychology can inform the ontology of painting

Worked as a Project Consultant in a cross-cultural education setting (across China and US), primarily organizing cultural immersion programs with Mindsabroad,

Volunteered in a Storytelling project namely ‘Peace-work’ organized by (Seagull Arts and Media Centre, Kolkata, telling stories and engaging with young, underprivileged Children

Exhibited and curated shows in the UK and in India.

Interest Areas

Contemporary painting; Contemporary drawing; Intersection between social sciences and art and design; Art and design practice research. My Ph.D. is practice-based but also incorporates theoretical investigations into phenomenological aesthetics and inquiry into the intersection of artistic and scientific visualization. My practice is contemporary drawings and paintings, and these include digital and site-specific one.

Current Practice at Srishti

Psychology and Anthropology of Drawing, Art-writing, Research Methods in Social Sciences, Art and Design Research, Ethnography, Drawing for Ideation, Arguing with art and design artifact.

Creative Practice and Outreach

Part of the reading and research discussion group 3Ecologies Institute and Allsense Lab convened by Professor Erin Manning, Concordia University.

Reviewed articles for the Journal of Visual Art Practice and Leonardo.

The 4tables Art project: 1-month residency in Gunther Village, Bir Valley, A public art intervention realized through paintings, Himachal, India.

The Light Inside: A multimedia installation by Asmita Sarkar Solo Show at 1shanthi Road Studio Gallery

Exchange & Flow Writing Workshop 1-5 March, 2019- Core participant and workshop facilitator in Exchange & Flow Writing Workshop 1-5 March, 2019. supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK and follows on from a large-scale, three-year European project ‘Technology, Exchange and Flow: Artistic media practices and commercial applications.’’

Art-science intervention in the form of a creative display on Moths and their biology in the International conference: Biology of Butterfly 10-th June11 2018, organized and held in NCBS Bangalore. http://www.biologyofbutterflies.org/