Artist Spotlight: Driptaa Chakraborty

This piece is an abstract representation of the fractal Sierpinski's triangle. Like a traditional fractal, Chakraborty’s piece demonstrates a repeated motif that scales down with each iteration, however, it is distorted to show movement and to add more visuals, she said.

Chakraborty said she wanted to explore the way warping perspective can change the composition of a piece. The twisting of the lines makes the piece chaotic, and it seems as if the people on the road are getting swallowed by it.

Chakraborty created a portrait of her classmate, senior Cianna Bailey. This portrait is meant to convey the subject's bold and bright personality, Chakraborty said. “I used bright primary colors and lime green on a black background to emphasize contrast,” Chakraborty said. “I also chose to paint her in a hat and jewelry, as this is representative of her striking fashion.”  She wanted to do ...

In this piece, Chakraborty said she wanted to explore organic patterns and repetition. The hand motif is slightly changed each time to wrap around the figure as a study of form, and she said she wanted the piece to evoke the feeling of being trapped in one's own skin.

Chakraborty said she chose to represent the idea of rhythm by showing hands playing the tabla, a set of Indian drums similar to bongos. She extends cubism which depicts the “fourth dimension.”

Steel rulers were used to create this sculpture to show a unique material and to show the relationship between math and art, Chakraborty said. “Rulers are traditionally ridgid tools used for measurement,” Chakraborty said. “I used them to create an organic form almost as a representation of myself: simultaneously mathematical and artistic.”

This piece is what won Chakraborty the first place award in the Congressional 2nd District Congressional Art competition. I wanted to show the importance of researchers in society, especially in the context of the pandemic, she said. “The expression on the face, the sharp diagonal, and the color emphasis is meant to create a sense of urgency,” Chakraborty said.