Bhubaneswar, April 3: Young artist Samarjeet Behera is creating unique works based on symbols and letters. After showcasing his creativity at a solo art show on the premises of city-based art foundation Utsha, the artist is continuing to work with stone and wood as well as other media to come up with impressive art.

A student of Khallikote Art College, Behera did his masters in fine arts from Hyderabad where he was working till recently.

He has also taken part in a biennale and major art shows in Kerala and New Delhi. The 26-year-old has been working at the Utsha studio under a residency grant conferred on him by the art foundation.

Behera has presented three different concepts in his art at Utsha. His belief that people have assigned aesthetic value to texts and signs used in language and share a complicated relationship with them is reflected in all his creations.

In his Seat to Sit series of works, Behera has carved out huge letters in Odia and Urdu to form the respective words for "seat" in these languages. The artist has used laterite stones to make seats out of these sculptures that form the shape of chouki and kursi. "I have tried to transform textual forms of chair to the physical design of chairs," he said.

Behera has also worked with wood in his concept called Sky. The installation is set up amid branches of a tree and a viewer can see through the work to look at the sky. The installation forms the Odia word akasha, which the artist has created using tree branches that are generally perceived as obstacles to look at the sky.

Another interesting work is called Plan your vision, a mixed media creation using cotton boxes, water colour on paper and laterite stone.

"This work depicts three designed boxes each with the picture of one of the three wise monkeys - Mizaru saying not to see evil, Kikazaru, not to hear evil and Iwazaru, not to speak evil. Inside these boxes are three sculptures made of laterite stone - a camera to depict seeing, a sound box for hearing and a mic to symbolise speaking.

"The residency has helped me to re-look at the conceptual foundations of my work and has helped me interact with local community of artists, art students, scholars and the public in interesting and fruitful ways," said Behera.

His works are on display at Utsha situated in Unit VI.