For Asim Pal art is not something which lives outside the artist; it does not come from any alien source. Asim found art in every particle of the first light of his life, in the very air which he breathed for the first time. He was born into the Pal community which is known for their centuries old tradition of sculpture-making, in Bengal, a culturally rich eastern province of India. Thus Asim Pal’s consciousness was molded in the artistic vision of his family upbringing. Later he would get professional training in art from Indian Art College Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Asim is considered one of the most pioneering artists in Indian printmaking. He has had his work displayed in major art shows and print biennials in the US, Europe, Japan, and South Korea. His work is well received everywhere. In 2008 Asim Pal was awarded the prestigious National Award for his print Divya Drishti (Devine Vision) by Lalit Kala Academy, the premier governmental body for the promotion of art in India.
Asim Pal’s vision of art is not limited to the realistic representation of apparent reality. Asim believes that an artist never intends to cater only to visual satisfaction. For him language in art is a holistic vision of reality or truth, not as mere information but as knowledge in the form of revelation. Thus, through a human face with a half-closed eye and meditative posture, he tries to express that the path to ultimate truth always comes through the tranquil union of the inner and outer world. He says that the imagery which he uses in his etchings represents the regenerative aspect of life, the endless process of growth. These symbols of the material world such as plants, cityscapes and modern inventions also appear side-by-side with the meditative spiritual aspect of human existence. In Asim’s work we cross through different colors of human emotion like the lotus which represents universal consciousness, a human eye which symbolizes visionary prophecy and multiple eyes which express the complex vision of man and cosmic spirituality. The purpose of human existence cannot be defined satisfactorily but that doesn’t mean that it is not worthwhile to search for one. In Asim Pal’s work we experience a similar effort to understand human existence in terms of our vast and infinite cosmic reality.
