Basist Kumar (b.1984) received his BFA in 2007 from the College of Art, Delhi University and his MFA in 2009 from the Vishwa-Bharati University, Santiniketan. Having been trained in the figurative school in India, a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture enabled him to study at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, China for two years (2013–15). This had a profound influence on both his technique and style and he now paints landscapes, with usually just the slightest hint of a human presence. Kumar has exhibited his work in several solo exhibitions at Nature Morte, New Delhi and Davide Gallo Gallery, Berlin. He has also exhibited works in group exhibitions at Nature Morte, New Delhi, India; Maya Art Space, Kolkata, India; Bose Pacia, Kolkata, India; and Davide Gallo Gallery, Berlin, Germany.

His works are characterised by an overwhelming level of detail and atmospheric specificity, resulting in dream-like panoramas that verge upon the mythic. His works are almost containers of weather and light. There is the sense of something epic going on, as if from ancient myth, yet it can’t really be articulated. His painterly technique hits a level of verisimilitude that is buoyant, crystalline and bracing.