OJAS Art Award 2016 announces winners of its second edition

Santosh Kumar Das has been awarded the Master Artist title and the Protégé Artist are Mahalaxmi and Shantanu Das. The award includes a cash prize of of Rs. 51,000 and Rs. 31,000 respectively.

The award is co-organized by Delhi based Ojas Art in association with Teamwork Arts, producer of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival.

The winners’ work will be exhibited at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2016, at Diggi Palace and will travel to JLF@Souhbank, London and JLF@Boulder, Colorado.

Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, Producer of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival said, “The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival has a proud tradition of celebrating excellence in creative expression and we are pleased to announce the winners of the second edition of OJAS Art Award. The award provides a great platform, including the exhibition at ZEE JLF, to these exceptional artists showcasing their work to a global audience.”

Anubhav Nath, Director of OJAS Art, said, “We had received numerous applications and it was not an easy decision. The art community has been very supportive of the OJAS Art Award. Over the coming years, we aim to evolve as the premier award in the tribal and traditional art space. Next year, we plan to focus on Warli art.”

The winners of the Ojas Art Award 2016:

Master Artist (Rs. 51,000): Santosh Kumar Das

Santosh Kumar Das, born in 1962, is a well-known Mithila Artist. He graduated in English from Darbhanga and later completed Bachelor of Fine Art at M.S.U, Baroda in 1990. Ha has exhibited his works at B.H.U, Devi Art Foundation, Indian Habitat Center, the Retrospective Show in San Francisco, Western Australia and US. His works are displayed in Museums and Institutional Collection of Oberlin Museum USA, Ethnic Art Foundation USA, Mary C Lanius, Denver USA and Asian Heritage Foundation, New Delhi.

A great inspiration to many, Santosh is best known for his work on Krishna Series and Gujarat Series which were followed by a series on Buddha and Yoga. He had painting remoteness in his village of Ranti and decided to teach the young generation. He is currently working on his autobiography in Mithila style and practicing art in his studio at his home in Madhubani.

Protégé Artist (Rs. 31,000): Mahalaxmi and Shantanu Das

Mahalaxmi, born in 1988, and Shantanu Das, born in 1983, work collaboratively in the field of Madhubani Art. Mahalaxmi started painting at a very young age, on the other hand Shantanu Das remains a keen student of Literature. Shantanu has also been painting for about ten years though literature remains his first passion.

Both have continued to paint together since 2012 and worked on a series of 24 artworks on Ramayana for Ministry of Culture. Their works were shown at Amboise France, Ethnic Art Foundation, USA and University of Witwatersrand, South Africa in July 2015.