Born in 1964 in the hill town of Siliguri, Prasenjit Sengupta completed his Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts with a specialization in Painting from Rabindra Bharti University, Kolkata, in 1988. Sengupta’s acrylic on canvas works are generally figurative, yet have a strong surrealist streak to them. Each of the figures is rendered in a deep contemplative and introspective manner, with the actual trauma of their lives being left for the viewer to interpret and comprehend. The paintings evoke varied sentiments; they can be photo-realist, figurative and surrealist at the same time. Sengupta’s palette is not wide-ranging, and yet he manages to convey this conflict using a limited range of comfortable colours.

Prasenjit Sengupta’s latest solo exhibition was ‘Pensive Contours’ organized by Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata, and the Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi, in 2007. His early solo shows were held at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, and Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, in 1994. Sengupta has been a part of several group shows, including ‘Bengal and Beyond : The evolution of Bengal Art’ held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, in 2005; ‘Versions’ held in Kolkata in 2005; ‘Colors of India’ in Jakarta in 2004; and ‘Contemporary Bengal Art’ at the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 2003.

Sengupta was honoured with the Gold Medal, Inter University National Youth Festival at Akola in 1988 and with awards from the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, in 1994, 1999 and in 2000.