About Ganesh Haloi

Born in 1936 in Jamalpur, Mymensingh, now in Bangladesh, Ganesh Haloi’s art has evolved through a series of transactions from pure landscapes to the innerscapes. Even though it is from abstract, his creations and his motifs have precise association with the artist’s psyche, his experience and the upheavals that have shaped him and his point of view. Everything begins in pain says Haloi, who moved to Kolkata in 1950 following the partition. The trauma of the uprooting left its mark in his work as it did on some other painters of his generation.

After graduating from the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata (1956) he joined Archaeological Survey of India in 1957 to make copies of Ajanta murals. After seven years, he returned to Kolkata and joined his Alma Mater as a teacher in 1963 and worked there till his retirement. The experience of Ajanta influenced him profoundly and his creations have imbibed its classical lyricism. He has won several awards including Late R. N. Chakraborty Memorial Gold Medal from the Government College of Art and Craft, seven Silver Medals from Calcutta University Institute, seven Gold Medals from Academy of Fine Arts, Cash Prize from Lathan Foundation, USA, Shiromoni Purashkar. Exhibited extensively, his works adorn numerous public and private collections. Member of the Society of Contemporary Artists since 1971, he lives and works in Kolkata.