Indrajeet Chandrachud is a New York City–based artist and designer whose life and practice have been devoted to the visual arts for more than two decades. Working across painting, creative direction, surface pattern, and game design, he brings a disciplined eye for composition and a deep sensitivity to color, rhythm, and atmosphere.

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His paintings are rooted in architecture encountered through travel across the United States, Latin America, Europe, and India. They are not documents of buildings so much as distillations of place, shaped by memory and feeling. Chandrachud’s minimal approach is guided by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s well-known insight: “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

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Through a pared-back, cubist language of architectural landscapes, he constructs surreal spaces that feel both precise and impossible. Influenced by Eastern philosophies and cultural lineage, his work seeks emotional resonance through form and color rather than literal likeness. Quiet, orderly, and meditative in their final presence, the paintings invite viewers to step inside, to wander, and to be held by the stillness. Chandrachud has exhibited in both group and solo shows on both sides of the Atlantic.

Indrajeet in his own words:

Major themes & subjects

Architecture is my central subject. Even when I introduce the human figure, it is in relationship to the structures around it. We remember places through the people we meet and the events we live, but I return, again and again, to the architecture itself. I am interested in humanizing what is cold and concrete, and drawing out feeling through color, proportion, and light.

How it all started
I never set out to paint. Painting found me. While cleaning my home, I discovered a box of expensive paints and could not bring myself to throw them away. I used them, liked what happened, and simply kept going. Twenty years later, I am still at it. I work primarily in acrylic because the fast drying time suits the way I build a painting, but I continue to experiment with new materials, including collage.

Style and practice over the years
I am classically trained as a graphic designer, and my paintings carry a strong graphic sensibility. There is truth in the idea that we rarely stray far from our roots. Painting is often described as self-expression, and at times it becomes autobiographical, even when the subject is architectural. I began painting because it made me happy. I did not think of myself as an artist at first. Over time, my work moved from simplified architectural forms toward deconstruction, abstraction, and cubism. Architecture lends itself naturally to that language, and I am curious to see where the work will evolve next.

The process
Every painting begins as a doodle. I work in advertising, and long meetings have a way of pushing the mind to wander. Those doodles become sketches, and the sketches become spaces. Once a structure feels right, I begin imagining the color. Color is the most important element in my work. I do not mix much on the palette. Instead, I build color through layers, letting edges and underpainting show through, so the surface holds a slightly distressed, lived-in quality. A painting typically takes two to three weeks to complete.

Best advice I’ve ever received
Paint for yourself. Paint what you like. Paint as if no one will ever see it. Do not worry about what anyone will think, or whether it will ever sell. Only then can you truly paint your heart out.

Paint with music, or silence?
Silence. My paintings are often imagined places, or real places warped by memory, so I prefer a meditative quiet. As I paint, I try to inhabit the world on the canvas. I imagine who might walk down the street, where the light would fall, and whether two lovers might meet at the corner.

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Education

• 2000 Syracuse University. Syracuse, New York. Master of Fine Arts

• 1997 Directorate of Art. Mumbai, India. Bachelor of Fine Arts

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 Exhibitions 

• 2019 Solo Show: Embracing Colour. Arundel Contemporary, Arundel, West Sussex, UK

• 2018 Curated Group Show: Creature. The Gallery @ The Factory, New York City, USA

• 2018 Curated Group Show: Five Napkin Show. The Gallery @ The Factory, New York City, USA

• 2018 Curated Group Show: Escape Velocity. Plaxall Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show: Winter Sculptures. Plaxall Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show: Live, Work, Play. The Gallery @ The Factory, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show: Annual Fall Salon. Plaxall Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show: Fear. Plaxall Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Juried Group Show: Making Connections. Citi De Ford Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show: The Garden of Earthly Delights. Plaxall Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show: Beach Elements. Plaxall Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show: Space C. LIC Arts Open Festival. New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show Walk With Light. Plaxall Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2017 Curated Group Show 8 Loves. Plaxall Gallery. New York City, USA

• 2017 Works on Paper. Curated Group Show. Arundel Contemporary, West Sussex, UK

• 2014 Movin' On. Solo Show. Arundel Contemporary Arundel, West Sussex, UK

• 2013 Summertime Medley. Curated Group Show. Arundel Contemporary, West Sussex, UK

• 2013 Places I Remember. Solo Show. Arundel Contemporary, Arundel, West Sussex, UK

• 2012 Long Island City Arts Open. New York City, USA

• 2012 Group Show. Long Island City Artist Showcase. Eleven 11, New York City, USA

• 2012 Group Show. Architectural Colour , Modern Spaces. New York City, USA

• 2012 Solo Show. Dreamscapes, Colorida Art Gallery, Lisbon Portugal

• 2012 TOAST Art Walk, TriBeca Open Artist Studio Tour, New York City, USA

• 2012 Project 10x10, Juried Group Show. New York City, USA

• 2012 Group Show. Vive le Surrealisme! Arundel Contemporary, UK

• 2012 Urban Dreamscape. Solo Show. The Secret Theatre Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2011 Art Paris 2011, Paris Expo (Group show through the Saatchi Gallery), Paris, France

• 2011 Finalist, Juried Group Show, Richeson 75 Landscape. Kimberly, Wisconsin, USA

• 2010 Nourish Gallery, New York City, USA

• 2009 American Cancer Society. Pink & Black Tie Gala, New York City, USA

• 2009 American Cancer Society. Eat Drink and Be Hopeful Gala, New York City, USA