Jayanta Sarkar John’s award winning artwork Childhood and The Reality-3

Emerging artist Jayanta Sarkar John won Honourable Mention Award in painting for his acrylic work Childhood and the Reality- 3, at the 18th Young Artists’ Art Exhibition 2012, which is going on at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
The painting is part of his recent series Childhood and the Reality, which depicts three children – one is standing, covering with his hands, the eyes of the child in front of him; the second child bends over and closes the eyes of the third child who is sitting.
Various bubble-like circles are depicted on the ash coloured background showing the distance between innocent dreams of children and the harsh reality that erodes their dreams. ‘In childhood, many children have various dreams. But most grow up to lead a harsh life deprived of creativity and emotion. The standing boy resembles a good position for dreams, but unfortunately it gradually turns into a weak and feeble position like the sitting boy.’ said John.
Besides this award winning work, two other paintings of the series are on display at the show. Childhood and the Reality-1, shows the same composition of same three boys (from a different angle) while guns and pistols are pointed at them. ‘As children are sometimes prone to be tempted by bad objects I depicted the image of pistols on the canvas to create awareness among audiences about the deprivation of children.’ added John.
Another acrylic work by John called Childhood and Reality 2 shows a monochromatic portrait of a deprived and destitute boy whose face is filled with negative emotions, frustrations and disgust towards the surrounding people.
After winning the award a delighted John said ‘an award of such magnitude so early in my life will work as a catalyst of inspiration for my upcoming works.  I feel honoured and get strength from this recognition.’ added John.
John completed his five-year diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Bulbul Lalitakala Academy of Fine Arts recently. He is now studying art at the Drawing and Painting department of University of Development Alternatives.
John has previously won various significant academic awards at the Inter Branch Annual Exhibitions since the beginning of his academic life. These include grand prize for pencil and sketch medium at BAFA in 2003 for his piece titled ‘Still Life’. He also won Honorable Mention Award at the 8th Shilpi Rashed Smriti Painting Competition in 2009.