Nupur Kundu’s artistic persona effortlessly combines her passion for art and Indian classical dance. The artistic aspect of life struck her natural instinct by way of her obsession with painting and dancing in the formative years of her childhood. Padma Shri awardee Smt. Anjolie Ela Menon expresses her view on the works of the artist ; “ Nupur Kundu’s present body of work reinforces her reputation as one of the foremost exponents of abstract painting amongst young artists in India. In her dogged and unrelenting pursuit of this art form in the face of a changing artistic climate where ‘easel painting’ itself was at risk, and the new genre which is emerging with the often bizarre juxtapositions of super-realistic figuration and increasing didacticism. Nupur has not succumbed to these trends or compromised the integrity of her personal vision. Her work has always stood apart from those abstract painters who embraced the genre because of a lack of schooling. The strength of her canvases speaks of a thorough grounding, a sureness of touch, expert handling of the medium and the use of thick impasto with a palette knife, resulting in works that have an impressive presence. She achieves this without recourse to either historical or topical references, creating a utopia of her own making replete with the pure imagery of a world created simply out of pigment and space.

Nupur has always been a colourist of great merit and her paintings a joyous celebration of colour. Those paintings which are more monochromatic with the warm reds, glowing cadmiums and verdant greens resonating from imagined landscape, that create an uninterrupted colour field with occasional accents of another pigment, have been her forte. These were ruminative and serene as a in a brilliant ‘aalaap’ where the quietude slowly begins to sing. Later moving towards the ‘jod’, rhythmical and sometimes atonal elements join in to create a powerful matrix of colour and form, rife with syncopations, little surprises, an occasional angry black stroke overlaying the harmony of the broader surface which lies at the heart of the work”.

“In the present collection I see a growing maturity and continue to be amazed at the optimism manifest in some of the works. A prevailing innocence seems to have survived the personal tragedies that she has faced at such an early age, leading to profound introspection while miraculously retaining the verve of her earlier paintings. Here there are some paintings which hint at dark forebodings over run with tracks and scratches, narratives in an imagined script of her own. Unrevealed secrets of a troubled spirit find expression in the stronger works of this series, giving them a focus and meaning that takes them beyond the sheer aesthetics and beauty of colour field abstraction. Where beauty has become a somewhat dirty word in the art discourse of the present times, Nupur’s work adheres to aesthetic principles which are almost classical in their reliance on both form and colour. The painter lines of these newer works, where some linear or solid structures begin to appear, point to the fact that both form and colour prevail. In the bold departures in some of these new works it is clear that Nupur is not averse to taking risks”.

Born and brought up in Delhi, she joined the College of Art, New Delhi in 1993 for her BFA degree in painting. The aesthetic environment of the college helped her realize her dream at a professional level. She also further honed her skills in Indian classical dance by completing her Sangeet Bhaskar in Indian classical dance (Kathak), and has several dance performances to her credit.

Nupur Kundu’s paintings are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The vibrant colours are always balanced, never out of proportion. At a deeper level, her works take you into an unknown labyrinth you don’t quite know how to get into , the labyrinth is not intimidating nevertheless. The works can be seen as explorations of the human psyche – the complex web of thought processes, actions, reactions governing the psyche. It is like undertaking a visual exploration of the human psyche.

Nupur has participated in several exhibitions both in India and abroad. And her works are part of several collections, National and International.