Jagannath Panda

Born 1970 in Orissa, Jagannath Panda is one of the radical contemporary Indian painters, basing his practice in activism against the encroaching urbanisation. His artworks are lyrical but not romantic, steering a rough path towards socio-cultural objectives. Panda has a dual master's degree from MS University, Baroda and Royal College of Art, London. Also, he was a visiting researcher at the Fukuoka University of Education, Japan. 

Panda employs naturalistic drawings of animals, birds, human figures, architectural setups, furniture, common objects, among other seen paraphernalia to create a solid and critical discourse upon the persisting urban hypocrisy. Through these realistic forms, he does not attempt to boast natural portrayals rather indulge the viewer in questioning the relation between them. The colours and tonal values solely serve the purpose to bridge the informal meaning with the common viewer. The use of contextual forms projects his experiences from his residential locations. 

Panda’s narratives, though concrete, embark on showing human emotions, which torment the land, their conflicts, identity and politics. Having lived in Bhubaneswar and Delhi, the soaring appropriation and political upheaval have become a few of the frequent factors in his expressions.

Panda has had several solo exhibitions at metros like Tokyo, Mumbai, New Delhi, London, Berlin and San Francisco. Among group exhibitions, a few include locations of New Delhi, Baroda, Berlin, Paris, San Francisco, London, Mumbai, and more. His artworks have been collected by reputed organisations like GVK Mumbai International Airport, Mori Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan, Lalit Kala Akademi, the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi.

Jagannath Panda lives and works in New Delhi, India.