Srijon Chowdhury highlights the structural role of symbolism in figurative painting, while making a direct address to the viewer that feels visceral, emotional, and personal. He is concerned with the psychic resonances that motifs can generate. Using a lexicon of still life art – animals, flowers, fruit, and candles – his canvases capture a sharp yet sensuous tension between mystery and revelation, and between fear and hope.

Chowdhury refigures the world around us in emotive scenes that mine the history of representation. He combines both Realist and Symbolist tendencies in his application of a mythical overlay to domestic stories. Color, both vivid and muted, washes over his scenes to hypnotic effect; always in the foreground, color acts as a central protagonist in his work. He has said: “Color affects a person viscerally and quickly. I think about the chakras which begin with crimson that root us to this reality and this body.”

Srijon Chowdhury (Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1987) lives and works in Portland, OR. He holds an MFA from the Otis College of Art and Design, and a BFA from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Solo exhibitions include: “Same Old Song,” Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA (2022); “Srijon Chowdhury,” Ciaccia Levi, Paris, France; “Dandelion Song,” Foxy Production, New York, NY (both 2021); “Srijon Chowdhury,” Foxy Production, New York, NY (2020); “A Divine Dance,” Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA (2019); “Before Dreams,” Antoine Levi, Paris, France; “The Coldest Night,” Upfor, Portland, OR; and “Endings,” The Art Gym, Marylhurst, OR (all 2018). Selected group exhibitions include: “Halcyon and On and On,” organized by Jennifer Carvalho, Franz Kaka, Toronto, Canada; “Striving After Wind,” Chapter NY, New York, NY (both 2021); “Severed Symbol,” Deli Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; “Barely Furtive Pleasures,” Nir Altman, Munich, Germany (both 2020); “Cicatrices,” VO Curations, London, UK; “Portraits,” Foxy Production, New York, NY (both 2019); “Swamp Thing vs Man Thing,” Et Al, San Fransisco, CA (2018); “February,” Roberta Pelan, Toronto, Canada; and “Water & Dreams,” The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI (both 2017).

• CV

• Publications

• Yin Zhang, Lisa. "Srijon Chowdhury." TheGuide. 14 June 2021. Web.
• Akers, Torey. "Severed Symbol: Srijon Chowdhury, Heidi Lau, and Guo Fengyi,” Whitehot Magazine. 20 Dec. 2020. Web.
• Davidson, Reilly. "Srijon Chowdhury." Artforum. 7 May 2020. Web.
• Fateman, Johanna. "Srijon Chowdhury." The New Yorker. 20 Apr. 2020: 6.
• Storm, Rebecca. “Srijon Chowdhury at Foxy Production.” The Editorial Magazine. 7 Apr. 2020. Web.
• Cruz, Cristina. "Editors’ Picks: 8 Things Not to Miss in the Virtual Art World This Week: 6. “Srijon Chowdhury” at Foxy Production.” Artnet. 16 Mar. 2020. Web.
• Leiman, Layla. “What does it mean to be alive today? In conversation with Srijon Chowdhury.” Art Maze Magazine. Issue 11. Winter. 2019: 42-55.
• Mizota, Sharon. "Review: Srijon Chowdhury paintings pull you in for a closer look.” Los Angeles Times. 16 Sept. 2016. Web.
• Speer, Richard. “Artist Profile: Srijon Chowdhury.” art ltd. magazine. Vol. 10 No. 3. May/June 2016.
• Wunnan, Nim. “Srijon Chowdhury: Remembering Memory.” Oregon ArtsWatch. 20 May 2016. Web.