Against the machine

Santanu Hazarika's art shows up on album covers and sneakers, on motorcycles and speakers. It's angsty, it's angry, it's got heavy metal-meets-anime energy. His work is the moodboard of the present moment. But how does one channel rage into raging success?

- By Christalle Fernandes, [e-mail]

Within art circles, all eyes are on Santanu Hazarika. Outside art circles, all eyes are on Hazarika too – we just didn’t realise it. The 33-year-old artist has been putting his stamp on everything. Been eyeing Comet sneakers? Last year, he designed a red-black-and-white pair with a thorny pattern and paint splatters – it sold out in two hours. Browsing tech? He did a collab with Zebronics, putting brooding dragons on speakers and mousepads in 2023. Dreaming of a luxury ride? He gave the BMW CE-02 Electric motorcycle a cyberpunk-futuristic customisation in 2024. Into gaming? Here he is again, designing the Valorant Championship Tour jersey. Open Spotify. Hazarika designed the visuals for Ritviz's song Mehrbaan, Raftaar's rap album Zero to Infinity, and the posters and promos for Badshah's 2022 Paagal tour.

You might know Hazarika more intimately, actually. Earlier this year, he worked with the innerwear brand Bummer, putting a flood of tiny black-and-white illustrations of pigeons and urban life on briefs, boxers and bras.

Hazarika's own work, showcased in galleries, is angry, nightmarish, beautiful. He's filled canvases with alien-like creatures worshipping at pagan altars, meadows filled with skulls, and sinister tangles of limbs, torsos and hair. One of his favourite pieces is a reworking of the Mona Lisa, giving that iconic face vampire-like teeth and features that bleed. It's as if heavy metal, graffiti, and anime decided to be chaotic roommates in his mind.

Commercial brands turn to Hazarika to give their products edgy appeal. Younger Millennials and Gen Zs see their anxieties reflected in his snaking motifs. Hazarika says he's proud of representing the underdog. How did his work become the moodboard of the moment?

Rough drafts