Pinaki Ranjan Mohanty

Pinaki Ranjan Mohanty is a Bhubaneswar, Odisha-based sculptor. Pinaki primarily takes his hometown, Chilika Lake as a conceptual site to respond ecologically, culturally and historically through his artistic practice. As a sculptor, Pinaki’s is deeply influenced by the current materiality, literature and socio-political conditions of Chilika. The artist questions the politics of aesthetics as well as that of neo-liberal interventions to his land and its forgotten memories. Although he takes the water bodies of Chilika as the conceptual ground for his oeuvre, his larger intention is to trigger questions around global waterbodies, poetic and literary references around lakes, their relationships, representations and consequences of man-made events in post-capitalist times. Pinaki materialises his thoughts through sculptures, interactive installations and site specific works, where the spectator can be a part of his experiences. He approaches art from an extremely personal perspective which makes his oeuvre utterly and irresistibly powerful. That strength then, grows into a much larger universal landscape of concern as it demands new avenues to understand water bodies and current causality. 

Pinaki R Mohanty (b. 1986, Odisha) Bachelors of Fine Arts (Sculpture) from B.K. College of Art & Crafts, Bhubaneswar in 2007 and pursued his Post Graduate Diploma in Ceramics Design from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati, Shantiniketan in 2013. Pinaki’s work was featured in the group exhibition ‘Episteme’ (2021) at Art Centrix Space.

His stunning work with different materials enabled him to be granted a research scholarship followed by an exhibition at the Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi at Bhubaneswar, Odisha (2015) as well as group exhibitions at prestigious galleries such as Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (2013); M. F. Hussain Art Gallery, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi (2010); All India Fine Art & Craft Society (2009); Ravindra Mandap by Tourism and Culture, Odisha (2006,2007); B. K. College of Art and Craft, Bhubaneswar (2004 through 2007).

He has participated in workshops across the country including ‘I am Gurgaon’ Project Workshop, Gurgaon (2019); ‘Barbil Art Project III’: Utsha Foundation for Contemporary Art, Barbil, Keonjhar and Bhubaneswar, Odisha (2017); ‘Stone Carving Workshop’, Rajkot, Gujarat (2017); ‘Installation Workshop’, Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi, Bhubaneswar, Odisha (2015); ‘Readymade Installation Workshop, Utsha Foundation for Contemporary Art, Bhubaneswar, Odisha (2014) ‘Wood Carving Workshop’, Kanti Centre for Art, Puri, Odisha (2014); ‘Wood Carving National Workshop’, Vice- Versa Foundation, Panaji, Goa (2012); ‘Jodhpur Painting Workshop’, Bodhi Tree, Monastery of Art, Jodhpur, Rajastan (2012). Currently, Mohanty is living and working in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.