Elgin’s Ear, Fading into Blue and Green
Coleman’s Way
The Afternoon of Power
Afternoon Light, South Bridge Road
Stories In Water
Elgin’s Ear Fading into Blue and Green has been previously published in 3Elements Review
Afternoon Of Power has been published in Anatolios Magazine
Soma evolved into a watercolour artist, after working with colours, shapes and silhouettes for decades. Her work reflects a complex heritage- an immigrant, constant traveller and inheritor of a diverse cultural and ethnic legacy. Her formal and professional training has taken her, as well, through metalsmithing, fashion illustration and weaving. The fluidity and freedom of watercolour allow her to cross borders effortlessly and give free rein to her instincts.
The subject matter of Soma’s work is mostly contemporary urban life, including parks, gardens, suburban towns and travel. She likes to capture sites and moments within the cityscape and then provoke the viewer. Who are these people, what are they doing, what is happening on this street and around that corner? No one is ever settled in a city and beyond and before a specific second, something is about to occur or has occurred. There are, too, hidden secrets within dense cities-exotic flowers, architectural surprises, highly creative activities.
Soma began with Impressionism and its’ basics inform her work. But schools are only boundaries in our minds. She has deliberately drawn upon fashion, New Wave cinema, the fluid drama of Korean film and DC comics. But for the use of light, a key ingredient in her work, she goes back to the masters. In contrast to the relatively static-though outdoors-world of Impressionism, the world we live in is of instant images and transmission. The idea of the gaze and the camera lens being transferred to the world of painting is an important area of exploration for her. Soma aspires to continue being a different inquirer of urban life and it’s place.
A naturalized Singaporean, Soma Pradhan comes from a family of agitators and legislators with roots in coastal Bengal. She took a Masters in Botany and initial classes in painting beside the Ganges in places trodden by the likes of Mark Twain and George Mallory. After a decade of work in Delhi in textiles and fashion with a postgraduation from NIFT, she moved to Singapore. There, she learnt object design, watercolours and Chinese ink painting at NAFA, bastion of the late, great Georgette Chen. Soma works across paper, silk and silver. Her paintings are available online at the Saatchiart.com and she has exhibited at NAFA. She has been published in The Rappahannock Review, Anatolios Magazine, 3Elements Review and Paranthesis Journal(forthcoming).
Soma is inspired by the works of Tolouse-Lautrec, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O Keefe and other influences such as New Wave cinema, DC Comics and Japanese film. She seeks to constantly challenge and redraw the boundaries of the possible. Soma believes that the innovation in art which began with Impressionism at the peak of the Industrial Age, must continue in the digital, instant social age to keep it relevant. She believes this is possible through bold experimentation in material, interpretation of movement and the use of light.