Renowned Indian painter Rabin Mondal passed away on July 3 in Pacchim Bangla. He was born as Rabindra Nath Mondal---a painter from Howrah, West Bengal. He was an Indian artist who was a founding member of the Calcutta Painters.

Mondal's art is typically known for its inspiration from primitive and tribal art and for its potent simplifications and raw energy. His figuration derives from a growing abhorrence towards mankind's moral decay in all spheres of life. The cubo-futuristic angularities of forms within the pictorial space arranged around them evolved into a series of paintings demonstrating diverse human figures that struggle to live a hero's life in a scornful but disastrous world. His images have an intensely felt iconic appearance. The series Queen, King, Man represent figures that are static, totemic, tragicomic, ruthlessly shattered and ruined. Having subverted the classical canons of harmony and beauty, Mondal invented a language in paint that could express his anguish and rage towards the decadence and frequent inhumanity he saw. Even the expressionistic use of splashed colours, the brave and huge application of black, is representative of this symptom.q

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