Santanu Hazarika Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Santanu Hazarika

• Santanu Hazarika is an Indian self-taught multidisciplinary visual artist. He won the Red Bull World Doodle Art Championship in 2014. His eclectic artistic talent encompasses various genres such as graphic novels, urban art, sci-fi, anime, video gaming, fantasy, dark comedy, metal-inspired themes, and mythological subjects. Over the years, Santanu has partnered with numerous global brands like Adidas, Red Bull, and Reebok.

• He was born into a middle-class Hindu Assamese family.
  

  Santanu Hazarika’s childhood picture

• From a young age, Santanu demonstrated a natural affinity for sketching and drawing. His artistic passion was ignited by the captivating world of comic books.

• Santanu’s parents envisioned a future for him as an engineer, which led to his enrollment at the Royal School of Engineering and Technology. In an interview, Santanu opened up about his challenging initial years at the college, revealing that he faced depression and sought medical treatment as he grappled with the demands of engineering and the weight of parental expectations. Finding comfort in doodling, Santanu would often immerse himself in this art form during lectures, transforming his learnings from the classroom into imaginative doodles.

• In 2012, during his college days, Santanu started working as a graphic designer for some local brands.

• While he was in his fourth year of engineering, a friend’s encouragement led Santanu to participate in the 2014 Red Bull World Doodle Art Championship, where he eventually emerged as the winner. The final round tasked Santanu with crafting a Hinduism-inspired doodle on a blank canvas of the Taj Mahal. Drawing upon his understanding of the religion, he depicted Lord Vishnu, the six-headed snake Adi Anantashesha (a devotee of Lord Vishnu), and a man enveloped by his own universe and inventions. Winning the championship earned Santanu a collaboration with the Red Bull Consumer Products Team to design a graphic for a T-shirt, which was sold on Red Bull’s online shopping platform in 2015. The accolades he received from these competitions bolstered his confidence, prompting him to leave his engineering studies behind and embark on a career in visual art and design.
  

  Santanu Hazarika after winning the 2014 Red Bull World Doodle Art Championship

  

  Santanu Hazarika’s doodle from the Red Bull World Doodle Art Championship that he made on the canvas of the Taj Mahal

• Santanu worked with Red Bull as a graphic designer from 2014 to 2017.

• In March 2014, Santanu Hazarika established ‘Dilate Ink,’ a distinctive brand focused on designing and producing original characters, which were then printed on t-shirts.

• He worked as a visual artist at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) from August 2015 to September 2016.

• From April 2016 to May 2016, he served as a speaker at Dibrugarh University, Assam.

• In November 2016, Santanu joined ‘Mojarto,’ an e-commerce marketplace for art exhibition owned by the media outlet NDTV; he worked with the company till 2017.
  

  Santanu Hazarika with Amitabh Bachchan at an event organised by NDTV’s Mojarto

• He worked as an artist for the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, from November 2016 to December 2016 in New Delhi.

• Santanu collaborated with the car rental company ‘Zoomcar’ in Kolkata, West Bengal in April 2017. He continued to work with the company until June 2017.
  

  Santanu Hazarika while working with Zoomcar

• Santanu started dating Shruti Haasan, an Indian actor, in 2020. In an interview, Santanu talked about his relationship with Shruti and how they share a special bond that inspires them daily. Santanu, in the interview, said,
  

  Shruti has inspired me in many ways. In fact, we are a very inspirational couple. A lot of things in our life are actually inspired from each other, it’s like the incubation of ideas. It is amazing that I have a partner who is equally creative and provocative in her own domain. Every day, I come up with so many different ideas, thoughts and perspectives. Having this sort of a bond with your partner is very inspiring as an artist.”

  

  Santanu Hazarika with Shruti Haasan and his parents

• In 2021, Santanu Hazarika collaborated with Ritviz, an Indian singer-songwriter and electronic musician, to produce a work of art to commemorate the release of one of Ritviz’s albums. The resulting NFT artwork, called ‘Sanviz,’ was made available for sale on the WazirX NFT marketplace at a price of 300 WRX, equivalent to $388.5. Incredibly, the artwork was sold in just 37 seconds, securing a spot among the fastest NFT sales ever worldwide.
  

  ‘Sanviz’ – An NFT artwork by Santanu Hazarika in collaboration with Ritviz

• In January 2022, Santanu hosted his first solo exhibition titled ‘BLCK,’ showcasing his passion for monochromatic art, at Mumbai’s Gallery Art & Soul. The exhibit featured a range of black-and-white art pieces and attendees including notable figures donned black clothing to complement the exhibit’s theme.
  

  Santanu Hazarika, along with others, at his exhibition, BLCK, at Gallery Art & Soul in Mumbai

  In an interview, Santanu shared the reasoning behind selecting ‘BLCK’ as the title for his exhibition. He expressed that the title signifies his artistic expedition, which commenced with experimenting with dense black ink tones through doodling. Santanu Hazarika, in the interview, said,

  BLCK is an extension of my turbulent existence and the contentment it brings to me. I began my practice using the deep black tones of India Ink, so when you doodle using black ink, the metascape it allows is very graphic, there are no tonal qualities you rather depend on the ability to sketch, it absorbs light. BLCK is a reflection on my artistic practice, it absorbs popular culture into intertwined vines of hands, skulls, human bodies and images that mirror our minds, the chaos that descends into our bodies from the images that we consume. Emotionally driven and violently molded, BLCK is an invitation into my world of comfortable turbulence.”

• His art has embellished various conventional and unconventional canvases, ranging from murals and cars to sneakers.

• Santanu has collaborated with several brands including Adidas to conduct numerous doodling workshops with the aim of promoting awareness about doodling and advocating it as a potential career choice.

• Santanu was selected as one of the several artists to feature in the FIFA 2022 World Cup anthem. The anthem showcased inspiring stories of individuals who overcame adversity to pursue their dreams. The remake of the classic song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears featured the American rapper Lil Baby.
  

  Santanu Hazarika (in front), along with others, at FIFA 2022 World Cup

• Santanu has been a part of numerous events as a judge including the Red Bull World Doodle Art Championship (2023) and Royal Enfield Art of Motorcycling (Season 3).

• Santanu loves animals and has two pet dogs.