To grow into creativity is often to unlearn the frameworks that once shaped understanding. For Ayush Banerjee, the journey into abstraction began not with freedom, but with resistance—a resistance to structure, to systems, to the quiet erasure of individual voice. Through texture, shadow, and instinctive gesture, the work unfolds as both rebellion and return: a visual language that embraces ambiguity, dissolves meaning, and allows the subconscious to lead. Guided by ordinary details—cloud formations, ceiling mould, marble veining—the practice finds wonder in the overlooked and voice in the undefined. Here, abstraction becomes not only a method, but a way of seeing, feeling, and freeing

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Have you ever felt drawn to a conventional career path? What made you take the “creative leap” despite the risks?

More than feeling drawn, I was forced to take the conventional career path after high school and after college as well. The affiliation to art did not matter, as I grew up in an orthodox middle-class family and, therefore, I had to choose the option of applying for a corporate job. Taking the “creative leap” came to me with the understanding of myself as I grew up. I was always adamant as a child to love and stand by the arts and sports, to support my creative self, even when my peers ended up choosing the conventional career paths and acted as an example to my parents. I resented the authoritarian system of judging knowledge through grades, and every conventional career path that I tried to be a part of made me feel judged and valued based on my inability to work according to rules. That is when I decided to take the “creative leap”. There were, there are, and there will be risks involved. But taking these risks fostered my skills to express myself better as a human. Every layer or texture made me admire aspects of my own creativity, every brush stroke felt less captivating and more like an exhale, and the paper never judged me for my mistakes. I am still carving my path, every day, to make it successful as an artist, and that has its cons, more than the pros, yet I feel satisfied and content with creative expression.

How important is it for your viewers to understand the intended message of your work? Does ambiguity add value, or do you seek clarity in your expression?

I, personally, feel that it is not important for my viewers to understand the intended message of my work. My art, for people, I feel, should be an experience, rather than a pre-defined body constituting meanings and messages in it. While title, definition and details of an artwork are necessary to guide the audience, more than often, I have seen people being heavily reliant on these rather than the visual experience that they have witnessed or simply how an artwork has made them feel, or deriving their own meaning and understanding beyond what is written. Therefore, as an Abstract artist myself, I feel that intended messages aren’t a compulsion to be understood, and they are not and should not be important to my viewers, as important it would be for them to simply experience my artworks. Abstract art has made me realise that ambiguity and clarity should be present in the artwork that I create. Ambiguity has mostly added value to the non-representational quality of my artistic style. I have been heavily reliant on ambiguity as it has helped me express more freely on a piece of paper. Clarity in expression, too, has found its space in my artworks, only when I wanted a sense of clarity of an emotion I am expressing, or if I began an artwork with a pre-existing thought. But ambiguity, nonetheless, has made my artworks more Abstract.

What unusual or unexpected sources of inspiration have deeply influenced your work?

The sources of inspiration for my Abstract art have usually been peculiar in nature. I remember that when I began creating Abstract paintings, my source of inspiration was the pattern of clouds in the sky. Later on, and mostly, I have been mesmerized and inspired by the patterns on marble tiles and the galaxies and stars in the outer space and since then, in most of my artworks I have tried to get close to those patterns and layers by trying to recreate an essence of these observations. Lately, what has inspired me is an Abstract pattern that fungi and mould have made over a white ceiling.

How do you challenge yourself to continually grow as an artist while remaining true to your voice?

I think growing as an artist is an act of discovering yourself- peeling the layers, slowly, one by one. I feel that as one grows individually and as an artist, the person continuously is in a state where they learn and unlearn at the same time. I think growth as an artist, during this process, brings in several changes in approaches, styles or even the thought process. But I also feel that if the artist is true to their voice and leads through that voice in their artworks, the voice will always remain constant. Growth more than often comes as a challenge to the already existing voice of an artist, but I feel that the voice of an artist never changes. It expands with every layer peeled off.

Can art be truly therapeutic? Have you experienced its healing power personally or seen it impact others?

Art can truly be therapeutic, I think. I speak of this from personal experience. Creating any art, to me, has almost been like a cathartic process. Art has often saved me from myself. I can’t express this strongly enough, but art has been a source of meditation to me that has helped me restore patience and faith in myself when I desperately lacked either. It has been my closest aid during months of feeling depressed, and it has also been a tool for bringing out the ability to express from within, when everything else around me had convinced me that I am not expressive enough. Through this process, I have felt more liberated, and this has also made me look at life from a completely new perspective. Art has brought me closer to myself. I think that is therapeutic enough.

Do academic institutions still play a vital role in shaping artists today, or has self-taught creativity disrupted this tradition?

Academic institutions still and always have played a vital role in shaping artists. Yet, having an institutional degree myself, I feel the best teacher of an artist is often the artist. Yes, institutions are gateways to knowledge and wisdom about the art world, an amplified exposure to the depths and vastness of practical applications of art and bearing a broad spectrum of techniques to learn from. But self-taught creativity, I feel, has not and should not stood/ stand in the way of an institutional approach to art. Self-taught artists are slowly growing in numbers, yet the preference is still tilted towards art schools and colleges. I think it is still, the choice of an individual to rely on institutes or teach oneself. At the end of the day, it is up to an individual whether they choose to utilise the knowledge learnt in an institution or use the knowledge they have learnt by themselves. I think self-taught creativity can work hand-in-hand with institutionalized creativity rather than disrupting the tradition.

How do you respond to debates about the accessibility of art—should it be exclusive, or is it for everyone?

Art is and always will be for everyone. Art has been present from the early stages of man, and it has developed through periods of civilizations. Art has always stood as the voice for the masses. Be it poetry, be it music, dance or be it a painting- art still remains one of those universal aspects of life that cannot “belong” to particular people. The definition of art is subjective, and so is the essence of art. Art can be shared and nurtured but never colonised. Art has always united people rather than dividing them. The exclusivity of art only lies in the fact that it is not, and it should not be.

What are five things you do to overcome creative blocks or feelings of discouragement? 

Well, the five things I do for this are:

Doing nothing. As simple as it gets when I say this. Sometimes when I am overwhelmed with ideas and thoughts or when I end up losing the creative flow while making an artwork, I take a break and I do nothing, thus letting my mind “breathe”. When I am discouraged or when the self-doubt is higher than the willingness to create, I end up not doing art at all. I do anything and everything else than create an artwork that day. More than often, meditation has helped my mind relax and heal during spells of creative block. I end up visiting galleries more often when I am feeling discouraged or simply looking at the artworks of some of my favourite artists online. I think art galleries or viewing art, in general, are some of the biggest sources of inspiration. Lastly, I try to multitask. I don’t know how that sounds, but when I am having any trouble in focusing on creating an artwork, due to stress or simply lacking the flow, I end up listening to music. Listening to a song facilitates the process of creating the artwork for me.

If you had the chance to sit down with any creative mind from history, who would it be and what would you ask?

There are plenty of artistic figures in history with whom I would love to sit and discuss (probably like a re-enactment of The Last Supper!). On a serious note, I would want to sit down with famous Italian artist Michelangelo Caravaggio. Being an Abstract artist, the only reason for choosing an artist associated with the Baroque movement, is his famous concept of tenebrism. I simply love and admire the bold contrasts of light and shadow in his artworks. I would actually like to discuss with him how to apply the concept in my Abstract artworks- to have an interplay of light and shadow and to be guided by him, creating an infusion of Baroque-Abstract art.

Have you considered teaching your artistic skills to others? What excites or challenges you about that?

Yes, I have certainly considered teaching my artistic skills to others. In fact, I do host workshops for beginners on Abstract art. The most exciting part about those workshops is that I get to interact with art enthusiasts and artists alike, and I feel workshops are that ecosystem of creativity where I end up learning, as well, through discussions and from opinions of my fellow participants. Imparting my own knowledge, experience and artistic skills to fellow artists is certainly a process of growth and nurture. The challenges that I have faced so far are trying to teach the participants the idea of freedom in creative expression. I feel that the freer the mind is, the more abstract the artwork becomes. This is one aspect which is certainly challenging, yet it is quite fun.

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In Ayush Banerjee’s world, art is neither exclusive nor elusive; it is something to sit with, to move through, to feel. What begins as personal catharsis often expands into shared reflection, reminding that healing and meaning can live inside ambiguity. As the practice evolves, so too does its refusal to settle—for clarity, for validation, or for form. What remains is a commitment to honesty, to process, and to the gentle unfolding of creative truth—unrushed, undefined, and entirely essential.