Shyamal Mukherjee is an artist who has spent his entire life in Calcutta, only venturing out to attend showings of his works, and only speaking in Bengali. Mukherjee says he loves to travel alone in new places on buses and trains since, "Most of my inspiration comes from observing people." It's not surprising that every figure in his body of work has a separate and interesting story to tell. Most of the people Mukherjee paints are performers of some type, putting on an act for everyone else - something all of us do every day of our lives. Mukherjee`s favorite medium is reverse oil or acrylic painting on transparent acrylic sheets, and he swears that although he may change his themes and subjects, inventing new ones for new shows, he will never give up painting in this medium. Although Mukherjee loves to paint, he says he has many other hobbies. He teaches children in his spare time, and says that he learns more from them than they realize. He also collects rural artworks and the crafts of Bengali artisans. EDUCATION: He holds a BFA and an MFA qualification from the Ravindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He has spent all of his college years in Santiniketan, first completing his BFA in 1987, and then his MFA in 1989 from the Rabindra Bharati University.