An annual national platform initiated and organized by Big I Art Foundation, Siliguri, recognizing excellence in visual art and discovering genuine talent across India.
The Patron Art Award is initiated and organized by Big I Art Foundation, Siliguri—a Government Registered, Non-profit Organization associated with other renowned and well-established art galleries for this event. The program has been designed as an annual event to recognize excellence in visual art and discover genuine talent in India. It aims to promote the varied richness of young artists' practices.
The project is looking towards a platform for artists mentored by eminent artists and curators. This event is open to all artists, trained as well as self-taught. This is an attempt to develop cultural entrepreneurship.
The works for the awards will be selected by a jury which will highlight the uniqueness of vision of art and artist. Winners selected by our Honorable Independent Jury members receive a one-person curated show or Artist Residency organized by our associate jury members and curators.
BIG I ART FOUNDATION, SILIGURI proudly presents Patron Art Award 4.0 (2026–2027) and invites applications from contemporary visual artists across all disciplines, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation, mixed media, video art, and sound art. Institution-affiliated artists are also welcome to apply. The award is open to artists up to 42 years of age. Applicants are required to submit 10 contemporary artworks, along with detailed images, an artist bio-data/CV, and an artist statement via email bigiartfoundationslg@gmail.com, mentioning in sub: "Patron Art Award 4.0". One selected artist will be awarded a curated solo exhibition by Ayan Mukherjee at A.M. Art Multidisciplinary, Kolkata. The last date for submission is 31st July 2026. A registration fee of ₹300 is applicable. For further information, Contact us on WhatsApp: +91 8167512997
From 1st to 6th December 2024, the solo art exhibition Shadow World by Sabyasachi Mullick, winner of the 3rd All India Patron Art Award 2023–24, was successfully held at T-93 Art Gallery in Kolkata. The exhibition was organized by BIG I ART FOUNDATION SILIGURI in collaboration with T-93 Art Gallery and marked the curatorial debut of Dipayon Ghosh in Kolkata.
Born in 1984, Sabyasachi Mullick has done his master degree from the University of Calcutta in Molecular Biology & Genetics. He has been of part in many collective exhibitions, including his multiple times participation in the Rajya Charukala Parshad Barshik Pradarshani O Utsav, the annual exhibitions of Birla Academy, the CIMA Award Show, the online exhibition of BIG I ART FOUNDATION SILIGURI in 2020, and many more. He also participated in exhibitions with his group Ocular in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2016. He had his first solo show titled Scaling the Immaterial in 2018, Kolkata. Mullick has presented a talk at Siliguri International Art Summit, 2020, organized by BIG I ART FOUNDATION SILIGURI, and curated a solo exhibition of Sayak Mitra in 2020, New Jersey. He has received a number of merits and awards from the state government of West Bengal, the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, BIG I ART FOUNDATION SILIGURI, and others. Mullick has authored two books on art and philosophy titled The Leavened Mind and Other Essays and Art concerning its being Experienced. He has directed a feature film called from Within an Exiled Earth, and many of his artworks are in collections throughout the country.
The exhibition showcased a series of thought-provoking works by Sabyasachi Mullick, whose artistic practice challenges conventional perception and interpretation. Through a minimal yet conceptually dense arrangement of objects and forms, the artist urged viewers to explore the unseen dimensions of reality. His artworks questioned the gap between appearance and essence, probing into the philosophical space between what is visible and what lies concealed. Inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s idea that “there are no facts, only interpretations,” Mullick’s art rejected the notion of a fixed reality. Instead, he presented everyday elements as symbolic fragments—each carrying abstract ideas about the uncertainty of truth and the fluid nature of existence. His work turned the gallery into a meditative space where presence and absence, knowledge and illusion, met in a layered visual discourse. The exhibition received an engaging response from both viewers and critics. It was praised for its intellectual depth, conceptual clarity, and the fresh curatorial perspective brought forth by Dipayon Ghosh. As a debut project, the curation was lauded for its sensitivity to the artist’s intent and its ability to connect with a wide audience. Shadow World stands out not just as an exhibition of contemporary visual art but as a compelling inquiry into the fragile structures of perception and belief. It successfully encouraged viewers to reflect on the boundaries of understanding and the subtle complexities of human consciousness.
Curatorial note by Ghosh
Sabyasachi Mullick’s art invites us to look beyond the ordinary, transforming simple objects into arrangements embedding deep questions to ponder. His work explores how we see the world and encourages us to consider the philosophical space between what is visible and what remains underneath—the place where true meaning often escapes us. By carefully aligning fragments of things, Mullick challenges us to look at the world differently, questioning whether what we think we see is the whole truth. Drawing from Nietzsche’s idea that "there are no facts, only interpretations," Mullick’s art disrupts our traditional ways of understanding. He suggests that reality itself is not fixed or absolute but rather an illusion that is broken up and shaped by our individual senses. What might seem like everyday objects are transformed into a vocabulary of abstract ideas that make us reflect on the reversible interface itself between existence and nonexistence.
The exhibition becomes a space where we can contemplate these ideas—where presence and absence, certainty and doubt, come together in a single, complex experience. Mullick’s work asks us to reconsider how we engage with the world in and around us, pointing out the fragile nature of the ideas and beliefs we rely on. Shadow World goes even further, questioning the very limits of our perception and challenging us to think deeply about the complexities of being and knowledge in the world. This exhibition isn't just about what we see but also about what we don’t see, urging us to reflect on the larger questions of existence, perception, and the nature of reality itself. It encourages us to step back and ask: How much of what we know is truly real? How much of it is shaped by our minds, and how can we begin to understand what lies beyond the surface?
#Shadow World 05, Medium: coal, glass, book, bee wax, plaster, wood. Size: 18” X 10” X 10”
Between Possible Worlds explores ontological plurality, where disparate realities unfold independently, each containing counterparts. Life, suspended between prenatal and posthumous nonexistence, materializes through conceivable, nicotine-infused possibilities, independent of temporal necessity.
#Shadow World 09, Medium: wood, charcoal, acrylic mirror, paper pulp, glass block, conch shell, twig, brick, egg shell, candle. Size: 16” X 20” X 4”
Drawing from Parmenides' metaphysical monism, this work contemplates an eternal, unchanging reality, where even nonexistence possesses being, challenging mortal perception, and reconciling ordinary experience with cosmic law.
#Shadow World 015, Medium: bones, wood, epoxy resin, iron, wax, feather, and jute, plastic. Size: 14” X 8” X 4”
Art’s historical focus on human and animal forms unveils musculature and skeletal symbiosis; devoid of function, the skeleton transmutes into an ontological vestige, evoking aesthetic abstraction and existential duality.
#Shadow World 025, Medium: terracotta vase, cloth, paint, glass, light, soil from South Park Street Cemetery, stone. Size: 14” X 10” X 10”
The ancient krater (Greek vase) transforms into an urn, symbolizing earth’s embrace; a profound, silent bond dissolves distinctions, revealing timeless unity, where solitude and death converge, untouched by worldly noise or temporal bounds.
#Shadow World 055, Medium: acrylic sheet, copper coin, pregnancy detecting kit, fishing hook, stone, digital print. Size: 12” X 16”
Being Not There probes existence’s essence, contemplating nonbeing before birth. A void, like a coin’s hole, unites existence and nonexistence, manifesting as a shape in transparent, elusive knowledge.
To continue the legacy, Open call for All India 'Patron Art Award 2022-2023' was organized by 'Big I Art Foundation Siliguri'. This year we added more ideas to the program, especially in the field of justice and rewards, providing platforms for more Visual artists.
Kolkata, West Bengal
South 24 Parganas, West Bengal
Katuwa, Burdwan, West Bengal
Eminent Artist, Kolkata
Founder & Curator, Studio Next, Kolkata
Founder & Curator, A.M (Art Multi disciplines), Kolkata
Founder & Secretary, Big I Art Foundation, Siliguri
Curator, Nippon Contemporary Art Gallery, Mumbai
Contemporary Pop Artist from the US, Atlanta
'Patron Art Award' (Rising Bengal) 2020-2021, by Big I Art Foundation Siliguri & A.M (Art Multi-Disciplines) Kolkata. We invited distinguished painters from Bengal as our honorable jury including Smt Sukanya Das, Sri Manas Acharya, Sri Ayan Mukherjee and Sri Dipayon Ghosh throughout this event.
Nilanjan Das is a distinguished contemporary artist based in India, holding a B.V.A in Painting from the Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta, and an M.V.A in Printmaking from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.U, Baroda. His multidisciplinary practice explores the complex relationships between nature, society, and identity.
Throughout his career, Nilanjan has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the Lalit Kala Akademi National Academy Award (2014) and the CIMA Art Award (2019). He has participated in prominent art residencies such as the Khoj Peers residency in New Delhi and the Piramal Art Residency in Mumbai. His works have been exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, earning him a significant place in contemporary art discourse. Currently, he serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Painting at the College of Art and Design, Burdwan.
'In search for a comfort zone' is an ongoing project that focused on gender interaction and intimacy in public domain and I am exploring this idea both through public art projects and studio practice. Therefore I examine public space and various components it composed of, such as social or legal rules, value systems, norms, functionalities, physical structure, even history of a place. Values, norms or rules, Henry Lefebvre, a French Marxist philosopher and sociologist, considered as one of the crucial components of the complex structure called social space. Who determine values and norms or set up the rules? Lefebvre held capitalism accountable for governing the social space, even everyday life by exploiting or bringing in value systems. Indian reality is far removed and complex from the west. Here it is capitalist forces in accordance with traditions, customs, norms of inequality, political institutions, state and religion, determine the value system that affects the formation of social space. Public space is a place to examine those values and social/legal norms that shape and control everyday public life. Public display of affection (PDA) is a political yet heavily contested idea in a society like in India. Most of the Indian cities do not have places for lovers, couples. Those who do not have a place to go; often use Public Park, garden etc. to spend some intimate moments. PDA in India is just not a performative act to challenge the taboo and stricture of a conservative society; it also comes from the basic desire and unavailability of a place to go. I attended a residency program at 1shanthiroad studio and gallery, Bangalore, which granted me the opportunity to observe how young people in the city use a public park called Cubbon Park as a place to make art and love. I collected imprints from the marks that couples who visit the place often purposefully or spontaneously leave on the tree trunks, rocks, concrete chairs in the park.
These scribbles reveal individuals, associations or memories of certain public spaces, which may not just be a geographical location for them. As they search for their comfort zone there is always a temporary transformation or shift from public to private. The method I used to collect the imprints from the Cubbon park, Bangalore is mainly direct tracing from the bamboo trunks. But imprints on other surfaces such as concrete can't be traced directly, hence I photographed them and later on transferred these photographs to the cast/found concerts through screen printing and polymer photo etching. Screen printing is one of the crucial medium in my practice as it gives freedom to print on any plane surface and can be used as a brilliant tool for public discourse. While printing photographic images in halftone is also possible. I started rediscovering these public spaces and closely observed the spatial structure, benches, architectures and collected scribbles, architectural design etc and try to collaborate with the couples and local stakeholders and further, reimagine these spaces both through studio practice and public art projects. Each of these spaces has specific typology that permits and shapes a typology of behaviour and space is in turn shaped by these behaviours and allow or disallow specific gendered interactions. My recent projects at North Kolkata ghats (river bank) with collaboration to Khoj is the outcome of the above statement, where I tried to initiate a collaborative conversation to develop rules of occupying the ghats for both couples who visit the ghat to spend some intimate moments and the people who live in the settlements along the river. While my present project is also focused on the reimagining of Public Spaces. With this growing pandemic when social distancing or better to mention it as Physical distancing is the only key, the question comes forth how these spaces claim to be redundant in future. The present scenario edifying new codes of social behavior, legitimacy and our relationship towards the public sphere, a paradigm shift that leads us to a new way of physical behavior and movement in public space. In this context, I want to look at the public spaces, such as public parks which host pockets and corners of sub-places for couples looking for privacy, as - how it was in terms of codes of behavior related to spatial structure, further reimagine and redesign these existing structure "which are giving way to a radical restructuring of how bodies exist in public space and can access intimacy."