Born in 1963 in Kolkata, Sajal Sarkar is an upcoming contemporary Indian Artist He studied painting at the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata After his graduation in 1989, he worked at the Lalit Kala Akademi Studio, Kolkata as a practising artist After which he moved to Baroda to pursue a Post Diploma in Graphics from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda He even received a Gold Medal from the MS University, Baroda in 1995 The same year that he graduated with a Post Diploma he was selected for the Junior Research Fellowship from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India In 1996 he received the Bendre Husain Scholarship He was granted the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant based in Canada twice in 1996 and later in 2005 He was also selected for the Senior Research Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture in 2011-12His works mainly speak of the existentialist philosophy and explore the sense of nothingness that pervades all aspects of life He initially started off with focusing on the violence present in India due to religious fundamentalism and after his migration to the USA this took on a larger world view HIs works are part of important collections like the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and Library of Congress, Washington DC He has had several solo and group exhibitions both in India and internationally Some selected solo exhibitions include ‘Open Ended’, Aicon Gallery, the USA in 2007, ‘Power of Black’ Artworld, Chennai in 2013 and ‘The Imperfectionist’ Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University in 2015 The artist currently lives and works in New Jersey, USA