Artist Sureel Kumar explores existential themes through his art
In a quiet, almost meditative tone, artist Sureel Kumar begins, “Yeah, artwork… Who Am I… yes?” The hesitation in his voice isn’t from uncertainty, but reverence—for the question he’s been circling for years. “‘Who am I?’ I feel this is the most important question,” he says, his words like fragments of a slow-burning mantra. “If I don’t know myself, what sense is there in knowing somebody else or the world outside? There is no sense.”
This existential interrogation forms the backbone of Sureel’s art, a striking collection of wooden mosaic works—each piece weaving a story, every colour igniting a new thought, all shapes beautifully creating a world of self-inquiry and awe, at his recently concluded solo exhibition Who Am I.
Curated by Professor Dr Tirthankar Bhattacharya, Chairperson and Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Panjab University, the exhibition marked a profound moment in Sureel’s creative journey, both deeply personal and widely resonant. “This question came to me in 2017. Back then I was playing with the question, but not so strongly. Since then, it’s still very dominating.”
Art as a dream language
When asked how the question Who Am I finds shape in his work, Sureel smiles. “It’s like... I get ideas in my dreams,” he explains. “Sometimes two lines like a poem, sometimes just a flash of design. Or something is humming in my mind and I wake up in the night to write it down.”
This nocturnal muse—drifting in the quiet moments between dreaming and dawn—is where Sureel’s inspiration brews. “Then in the morning, I read what I wrote and sit with it. That’s when imagination starts. And from there, emotions, logic—they both begin to frame the piece.”
Why wood?
Wood came to him not from art school, but from life’s accidents and detours. “From childhood, I was sketching. Then I tried oils, water colours but something was missing,” he recalls. Then a moment with friends working on wood sculptures changed everything. “I made something small and I loved the fragrance, the softness, the grains of wood. I knew—this is it.” That was nearly two decades ago.
Mosaic moment
Sureel’s exhibition featured 88 pieces—each an intimate inquiry into his being. “Even when I wasn’t selling, I kept making. I must have made over 300 of them in the last 12 years. I felt if I stop, ideas will stop. So, I didn’t.”
Silent witness
Sureel’s process is deeply internal, spiritual, without needing religion. “I see my mind, my thoughts, my emotions, my body, how they behave in different situation and with different people and I ask—who is watching?” he muses. “There’s something in me that just observes. It doesn’t judge sadness or happiness. It just watches.”
This watcher, this formless presence, is the force behind Who Am I. “With each piece, something clears up in me. I realise I’m not this. I’m not that. Things are clarifying.”
He even wears his art—literally. “My face is my canvas now,” he says, referencing the asymmetrical facial styling he’s embraced as part of his exploration. “If someone looks and thinks, ‘Who is this guy?’ their laugh or smile or surprised look takes me back to my question—yes, who exactly am I?”
Chandigarh & beyond
“Chandigarh is special,” he says with warmth. “The people here are educated, aware. They understand art.” But when it comes to collectors, “Maybe with more and more artists bringing their stories to the city, we’ll get there in time.” After having a fair share of love for his art in Vienna, Austria, where he spent a considerable part of his life, Sureel feels he should now shift his focus towards cities like Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai for more solos.
