Atul Chandra Barooah is a prominent sculptor who has enriched this particular field in Assam with seminal contributions during the last several decades. A man with profound knowledge of art and sculpture, Barooah was fortunate to have learnt the art of sculpting under the tutelage of the legendary Ram Kinker Baij at Shantiniketan. It had been his dream to study there, and after completing the HSLC examination in 1964, he thought it was time to go ahead to realise his dream. When he boarded the train to Kolkata, he preferred to keep his parents on the dark about it.

But what really brought him to the colourful world of art? A very interesting incident took place when he was a little child, which had a great impact on his life and it encouraged him to draw and paint.

A massive earthquake jolted his native Nagaon around that time and near his old house, the ground parted and a fountain wall got created in the process. Mud and water came out of it with great force. The little child enjoyed crossing the fountain wall here and there. Suddenly, he heard some people, terribly afraid, cry aloud — Hari bol Hari bol. He then stopped and realised that it was far from a time of laughter or enjoyment.

“Next day,” Barooah narrates, “I made some cement visual rendering of a human face and silently hid the portrait beneath the earth in our bathroom, and hoped that some day somebody will discover that and will think – ‘Oh! An artist lived here once upon a time’!” After that event he always kept thinking about art.

At Shantiniketan, in the 1960s, only diploma was offered in fine arts. Later, they added graduation and then postgraduatation. After securing distinction in diploma in sculpture, Barooah got the national scholarship that helped him overcome economic constraints and concentrate entirely on art. He went on to get a post-diploma in sculpture from Shantiniketan.

Barooah has been fortunate to have exhibited his works along with many legendary artists like Bikash Bhattacharyya, Jogen Chowdhury, Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Pravin Kumar Biswas, Manab Barua, V Menon, Tapan Mitra, Ira Roy, Janak Jhankar Narzary, Paritosh Sen, Subir Chowdhury, Amarendra Lal Choudhury and many more.

Throughout his life, Barooah has come across many great artists in the international circuit. He represented India, along with Monhori Sheth and Bharti Sheth. The study course of the Commonwealth had two main aims. One is the study of aspects of Commonwealth traditional song, music and dances, which was achieved through talks, seminars and workshops. The second one was the creation and production of a performance of the Commonwealth traditional music and dance. There were participants from all over the world.

Reflecting on the 21st century art and sculpture, Barooah says, “It is ever changing, and that, too, in a sequence. The causes are different — from technological development to intellectual exercise... For instance, earlier, in sculpture making only bronze, stone, wood, etc, were used. Then the idea has changed into plastic art. Dimensional changes are taking place in most forms of sculpture.”

Today, sculptures are made from recycled materials. New technologies have been used to create interesting artwork, including computers, holograms and beam. And sculptures are based on varied themes such as wildlife, religion, tradition, or fun.

“Sculpture is the art of making three-dimensional works. A statuette is an image of a person or animal that is sculpted in a solid substance,” he says. He strongly believes and conveys through his works and messages that artworks should not be copied. They should purely come from the human mind and soul. Perhaps, it should be merely called a masterpiece by the artist’s own heart, irrespective of what others would say afterwards.

“Looking into and understanding the environment also plays a key role to generate an object. The quintessence of a thing has to be realised and then only such a thing that it was not made before should be produced; so, neo-realism has come under this impulsion of creation. According to Barooah, “modernity is not a new thing; we simply recognise it to a new step of form. It all depends on what our mindset is all about.”

The intellectual minds had altered completely when Barooah joined service in Delhi as an art teacher along with several others. Numerous concepts of art were focused and discussed as they had come from various corners of the country. Gradually with time, Barooah became a good learner: he had acquired a completely different understanding on art and had developed his own style of form and shapes with his own identity. In the meantime, the GHAR village started, where artists and sculptors from different parts of the country could work communally. It was another plus point for Barooah to know diverse mediums/techniques of sculpture. From there, Barooah got a British Council scholarship in 1974. Later, he got one more chance to go for higher studies in Portsmouth University, United Kingdom.

Barooah comes up with mindblowing creations quite often. He is inspired bythe complexity and beauty of the world around him. Currently, he spends his time making sculptures and reading books. In the near future, this exceptional thinker and sculptor hopes to fulfil many dreams and we wish him success.

Jinny Barman