1 week ago
Live Event Painting Brings Handmade Memories to Bengal Celebrations
Some people in Bengal are hiring artists to paint their celebrations while they are happening.
The artists watch the ceremony and quickly put its important moments on canvas.
This can happen at weddings, birthdays, rice ceremonies and anniversaries.
Subhashree Chakraborty started doing this after being invited to paint at a wedding.
Her first assignment was at JW Marriott Kolkata in April 2025.
Another artist, Debayan Ghosh, makes live caricatures that can make guests laugh and join in.
Families like these paintings because they feel personal and handmade.
They believe a real artist’s brushstrokes and the shared experience cannot be fully replaced by cameras or AI.
Live event painting is gaining popularity at weddings, birthdays and other celebrations in Bengal.
Kolkata artist Subhashree Chakraborty began painting weddings after an event manager approached her.
Chakraborty’s first live assignment took place at JW Marriott Kolkata in April 2025.
Artists say live painting captures atmosphere, emotions and audience interaction that photographs or digital tools may not provide.
The trend now includes weddings, rice ceremonies, engagements, anniversaries and live caricature sessions.
- Who
- Artists including Subhashree Chakraborty and Debayan Ghosh, along with families and couples in Bengal, are involved.
- What
- Live event painting and caricature-making are being added to celebrations as personalized entertainment and keepsakes.
- Where
- The activity is gaining popularity in Bengal, particularly Kolkata, and has also taken place elsewhere in India and overseas.
- When
- The trend is described as growing; Chakraborty’s first live painting assignment was in April 2025.
- Why
- Hosts and couples want distinctive, personal and handmade ways to preserve memories and engage their guests.
Handmade Experience
Digital Documentation
How memories are preserved
Handmade Experience
Supporters of live painting value physical canvases, raw brushstrokes and personal details that reflect the emotions of a celebration.
Digital Documentation
Cameras, smart gadgets and AI are increasingly used to document and recreate important moments, although the articles do not present a direct defense of these tools over live art.
Role at the event
Handmade Experience
Artists such as Debayan Ghosh say the painting process itself becomes a performance, with guests watching, laughing and participating.
Digital Documentation
Traditional event documentation generally records the occasion rather than making the creation of an artwork a central communal activity.
Key facts
- Art form
- Artists paint ceremonies or make caricatures in real time while guests watch and participate.
- First assignment
- Subhashree Chakraborty’s first live painting was at JW Marriott Kolkata in April 2025.
- Online response
- A video documenting Chakraborty’s first assignment crossed 500,000 views and later reached one million.
- Completion time
- Chakraborty and a fellow artist take around six hours to complete a wedding painting.
- Events covered
- Bookings include weddings, annaprashan ceremonies, engagements and anniversaries.
- Live caricatures
- Debayan Ghosh has conducted sessions in Kolkata, elsewhere in India and at events in Dubai.
- Audience experience
- Guests can watch the artwork develop, add jokes or observations, and interact with the sitter and artist.
Quotes
Subhashree Chakraborty
Professional artist from Kolkata
“I had never done live painting before, but I had done a lot of outdoor painting across Kolkata. I thought I could take that experience and bring it into figurative painting.”
telegraphindia.com
“AI can never replicate the raw strokes and imperfect finishes that fill the mind of a father watching his son grow — unrefined, much like our lives.”
telegraphindia.com
Sources
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