Category: Art Achievers

Calling his art experimental, acclaimed artist Niladri Paul says he loves mystery and uncertainty in his work and weaving a visual poetry of beguiling pigments

My first encounter with Niladri Paul, who is undoubtedly one of our finest artists today, was not planned per se. Both of us attended the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata, and would occasionally bump into each other. Niladri was my junior and we soaked in the same artistic environment and learnt similar techniques. Guided by stellar artists like Bikash Bhattacharya, Ashesh Mitra, Niranjan Pradhan, Isha Mahammad and also seniors like Chitravanu Mazumder and Subrata Gangopadhhaya, art was the binding force for us. However, I got acquainted with Niladri’s art later on when both of us settled in Delhi and I would frequent his studio every now and then. Born and brought up in Jamshedpur, Niladri had been painting for as long as he remembers, even before he knew it was called “art’’. From the moment he could hold a pencil, Niladri started doodling on anything he could lay his hands on, right from paper to walls, much to the dismay of his parents. He recalls, “While in the bathroom, I used to enjoy drawing on walls. Eventually, my father started taking interest in my art and encouraged me to participate in various art competitions. Winning awards as a kid inspired me to pursue art vigorously. Pictures of comic books fascinated me and I would copy pictures for practise.” Recalling his earliest brush with an artist, he says, “There used to be Sengupta Sir near our home in Jamshedpur. The pipe smoking, hat-wearing Sengupta Sir’s studio was a storehouse of European style paintings,” Niladri recollects. “I used to be awestruck watching the artworks and would grill him on various aspects of the paintings. The wonderland that his studio was, it motivated and convinced me to spur onward on my journey into the world of art,” admits Niladri, drifting into the times gone by. Encouraged, he joined art classes at Rabindra Bhawan at Jamshedpur, where he learnt painting and clay modelling. But this was of little use since only the basics were taught and poster colours were the order of the day. This was the time Niladri decided to embark on a journey to explore the art world independently. But as luck would have it, 15-year-old Niladri had to accompany his mother to Kolkata as she was seriously ill and admitted to PG Hospital near Victoria Memorial. One day, while exploring the city, he visited Indian Museum where he found many youngsters practising pencil drawings of the ancient sculptures displayed in the museum galleries. “I felt curious and luckily, I chanced upon one of my friends there. Apparently, they were preparing for the entrance test to the Government. College of Art and Craft, which is there in the building adjacent to the museum,” shares Niladri. He went to enquire about the admission process and happened to meet artist Ashesh Mitra, who advised him to appear for the admission test and make arrangements for living in the city if he qualified for the five years course. He qualified and in 1981, got admission in the prestigious college but unfortunately, Niladri lost his mother. However, his pursuit of academics in fine art took off and he started living in the college boys’ hostel at Pathuriaghata. “With no fans and proper toilets, hostel life was gruelling,” says Niladri. “I would spend most of my time sketching and painting outdoors. My favourite jaunt was Nimtala Ghat. But for night sketches, I would trundle to Sonagachi with friends. This was the red light area and I loved to capture the colourful night environment there.” In fact, in his later works, this influence is very dominant and women have been a constant muse to Niladri. His fascination for the myriad colours and mystery of women has been almost perpetual in his works. His love for the female form is evident in his portraiture and their complex emotional expression. As a student, he explored the city walking alone and evolving his expression. Like most of us, Niladri, too, was fascinated by the British style – watercolour legacy of our college. However, he would experiment and explore varied techniques gradually mastering most possibilities. He spent initial years honing his skill as an abstract figurative artist with an urge to search for his own distinctive style and medium. Early in college, Niladri started freelancing for advertising agencies. At the same time, he participated in the Calcutta Art fair where two of his watercolours were sold – a night sketch of Sonagachi and Durga Bhasaan (immersion of goddess durga). After completing the Bachelor’s course in 1988, Niladri headed back to Jamshedpur and bagged an assignment from Tata Steel to design inhouse journals. Though well-paid, the job and life in Jamshedpur was lacklustre. “After living in Kolkata for almost seven years, I felt Jamshedpur was not meant for me,” reveals the artist. Later, while he was travelling to Bali via Delhi on an assignment for Tata Steel, the visa for his travel got delayed and he decided to stay back and explore the city. Within two days, he found a job with a local advertising agency as a commercial artist. “Around 1989, I finally decided to settle down in Delhi,” recalls Niladri. While working for prestigious ad agencies, like Ogilvy and Mathers, Clarion etc., he used lunch breaks and after office hours to continue his artistic pursuits. It was during this time that he approached Aurobindo Art Gallery near Hauz Khas with his watercolour paintings. The gallerists agreed to keep a few works, which were sold out. This encouraged him to work independently and he quit his job. “Though it was a huge risk at that point of time, I just picked the gauntlet and went for full time art practice,” he adds.

As a child, Niladri loved to doodle on everything, much to the dismay of his parents. His love for art pushed him to pursue this as his profession.

During the mid-90s when “acrylic” colours hit the market, Niladri was thrilled by its similarity to watercolours. He was never too interested in oil on canvas though he did some oil works mostly in Alla Prima technique. He wanted to explore possibilities with acrylic, but handling acrylic was tough and he spent a lot of time trying out styles, colours, papers and canvases. That was a year of struggle and self-search with wasted materials and hours of learning process and continuous practise. “I used to buy long canvas rolls, made small pieces and continued my experiment day after day to achieve a style of my own,” reveals Niladri. He tasted success with one of his first solo shows of acrylic works. The entire lot of 25 works was lapped up. Though selling boosted his confidence, for him bliss was communicating his ideas to the viewers who liked his works. Early success led him to have a show of portraits in oil and watercolour at World Trade Centre, Singapore in 1994, followed by a string of solo shows in Delhi and Mumbai. In 1996, he participated in the Coconut Grove show held in Miami, Florida. He has held shows across the globe right from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai to the USA, London, Lagos, South Africa and several other places. His works are in proud collections of big corporate offices and avid art collectors. He was awarded a Senior Fellowship by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India in 2015-16.

Talking about his art, he loves mystery and uncertainty and weaving a visual poetry of beguiling pigments. He likes to call his art experimental, for it is an ongoing evolution of his sensibilities that he endeavours to translate onto his canvases. His love for abstract figurative expressionism though realism is visible in his work. He was inspired by the works of Bikash Bhattacharya and loves Tyeb Mehta’s work. A fan of Paul Klee and Gustav Klimt, he has been inspired by masters like Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Sir Henry Raeburn, Ingres, J.L.David, Dali, William McGregor Paxton and William Adolphe Bouguereau. He has merged acrylic with a hint of drawing, leaving white spaces just like the watercolour method. In fact, he loves to express through colour perspective more than drawing perspective with perfect visual calculation. Niladri believes he has his own style and identity that is evident in all his works. He admits, “I can see my impression, my temperament in my every creation”. He believes any new work gently shapes up on its own “almost effortlessly”.

It is hardly surprising that the artist is equally at ease with his abstract as well as figurative fluid compositions. Freedom and spontaneity have always been important for him, be it personal space or work. This aspect reflects abundantly in cheerful optimism, sheer vibrance and raw energy in his body of work. He does not believe to be a social critique of his times and believes an artist’s language should be simple and forthright, easily understood and relatable. He loves to be rhythmic in conversation, a language that is spontaneous, not a planned layout.

Delhi’s rich cultural life and Niladri’s love for performing arts reflect on the large canvases in enigmatic portraits and dynamic abstracts. Bright blue and orange dominate the palette as he paints with bold strokes and finishing touches of black and white. The audience is drawn to his work because his works are easy to read. The luminescent forms make him mould his very own language of colours, lines, motifs, textures and strokes. A language that is not overtly intellectual or pretentious, but earthy, identifiable, rooted and yet fanciful. It is his positive energy, youthfulness and effervescence that creates the poetic sensibility on the canvas with great ease and yet does not lose the virtuosity of the classic grounding, unique synthesis of control evolving dramatic narrative through extravagant brush strokes.

A non-conformist, maverick, free spirited and bohemian, Niladri, is so like his paintings. Just when a particular series gets a standing ovation, he starts experimenting with something entirely different, least bothered about pandering to the marketing diktats. He comes up with a brand-new series of paintings every now and then with a distinctive palette. He is also a sculptor, photographer, experimenting with interiors and fashion as well – not leaving these mediums unexplored! Photography comes as a useful reference for him sometimes for his paintings.

Niladri mostly confines himself to his studio but sometimes he can be found in the kitchen, where he rustles up spectacular gourmet meals for friends and family. Perfectionism is his forte in whatever he does and compassion is his driving force in life. He invokes spirituality through the resurrection of colours and huesthat magnetically draw one’s attention to the mesmerising nature of his art. Especially the semi realistic human form and the luminosity that have been enthralling. This allows the viewers to experience oneness with the presence of awareness and their being, appreciating peace, love and happiness all melting into a beautiful melody.

“I try to embrace the tangible force into an equally forceful energy in pigments and forms as the ever broadening and growing idiom add to my very own unconstrained palette, thus translating the concentric energy of rhythm, sound and expression into a euphoria on canvas,” Niladri explains. The central premise of his paintings being a celebration of the eternal, ethereal ideals on a metaphysical level in the current urban milieu corresponds to the larger-than-life philosophy of all of us living our lives in complex and mysterious layers. Niladri has studiously refused to let any societal darkness, enter his exclusive world of happy colours. He captures the mood and spirit of his subject’s drawing inspiration from everyday life and the fleeting thought of the moment. And yes, he refuses to write reams of theory about his work.

“My art is not a social critique of our times, as I strongly feel that I am an artist and my language ought to be simple and forthright enough for everybody to understand and relate to.”

Don’t rush to resign your old doors and windows to the scrap heap as Mumbaikar Pooja Bansal breathes new life into tired, time-worn pieces turning them into exquisite works of art
TEXT: TEAM ART SOUL LIFE

When one door closes, another exciting opportunity opens. As old doors and windows get discarded and replaced with modern day wood, glass and metal, Mumbaikar Pooja Bansal has taken it upon herself to restore them with her art. “My signature work is on old doors and windows which come from old have lies, palaces and houses of Rajasthan and South India to Mumbai’s chawls., mills, slums etc,” says Bansal. “The purpose of my work is to restore them with my art and make them a part of the modern day environment again for patrons of art and old vintage wood.” While she picks old pieces for her artwork, Bansal commissions art on new wood – doors, windows, panels, furniture as well. A self-taught artist, she specialises in mixed media art, which she has evolved using a fusion of distress art and various mediums like glass, gold foils, metal and wood to create her own style varying from contemporary to ethnic. “The idea is to bring art outside of canvases to something more functional and real,” says Bansal, who left her corporate job to pursue her passion fulltime. “I was always inclined towards art, but I could only get time to paint over rare weekends with my corporate life,” she says. “I loved my corporate work and was always excited to take up new projects. But then there was kind of a realisation in 2017 that I wanted to explore my art before it was too late.” By then she had painted three windows and wanted to do more. “So out of the blue in late December 2017, I sent my paintings on windows to the Kala Ghoda Festival team for showcasing in 2018, and interestingly there was a very good response and that gave me confidence to leave work and start painting,” informs Bansal. She says painting on doors and windows came naturally to her… it was kind of an attraction to old architecture and their doors and windows, the fascination of the life people lived before the high rises that intrigued and fascinated her to use them as her art base. Growing up, it never occurred to Bansal that being an artist was something she could explore. “I did try for fashion designing and even cleared the All-India NIFT exam, but my family did not show interest in my pursuing a vocation after 12th grade. Coming from a family of highly educated doctors, lawyers, businessmen and corporate professionals, there was a charted path of higher studies for me. So, I just kept moving on that path with my creative side coming out only while making business plans, excel models and presentations,” she explains. Since there was a pre-defined path of MBA for her, she never challenged that and ended up studying Business Administration. “Restoration and repurposing happened because of my love for old things, old life, old era… my inquisitiveness of life in those days,” Bansal informs. She says an art degree would have given her a very different and a much deeper perspective of things, of art, of approaching elements and subjects, and of expressing herself. “I do miss it for the sake of helping me express myself better,” she says, adding, “But I feel without the degree I am open to exploring from scratch, learning every bit of it with maturity to understand and with every step challenging me to do more without inhibitions.” She started her venture by putting in her savings from the corporate profession, and converting one of the rooms in her house into a part-time studio. It had to be from scratch so she had to find her identity in a whole new world with no experience whatsoever from either family or friends. Did it ever occur to her as to how she was going to survive as an artist? “Oh yes!! But the thought did not come to me naturally since I was bubbling with excitement to explore my art. It came more from the art world – from other artists, buyers and sellers of art, from social media people, etc,” Bansal recalls. “The only one advise common from all was that there is immense competition, loads of artists, and few takers unless you are unique. Also, that artists have a life of struggle and no money. So, I may not be able to survive,” she adds. Bansal says her art journey was chaotic to start with. “Since it was a new field in my family, I had enough questions being raised on leaving a well-paying job. There were established artists and social media people who gave me lots of ideas to paint, which kind of clouded my mind. So, the first year was a mess with me doing things which others told me to do. Painting doors and windows took a back seat. In fact, I was dissuaded from painting them because according to them it was a form of art which had already been explored and done and d,” she remembers. Starting second year, however, she paused herself, went back to basics and started painting doors and windows again. “I focused on learning about the wood types, wood grains, meeting interior designers and architects, networking, tying with stores, and gauging interest. And it was only then that I started getting orders and a lot of queries,” she says. Another challenge was that she was using a very heavy base – hardwood, compared with light weight paper or canvas. But the conviction of restoration, the uniqueness of wood grains, along with the idea of sustainability and repurposing, everything helped her move ahead with it despite the mindset that she was in a wrong market like Mumbai with small houses and with a wrong product which was way too heavy. Talking of the process, Bansal explains she mostly works on old / vintage wood for her portfolio, while the interiors projects involve new wood. “For old pieces, my process involves sanding the pieces to a level where their old paints are retained in some places. I treat some pieces, especially raw barks for infestations like termites, cleaning, putting them to dry completely in the sun, and then starting to paint on them. In case of new wood, a large part of this process is skipped and I mostly just sand my pieces and start painting,” she informs. Bansal relies on dealers who source these doors and windows for her, and she has carpenters and painters on contract basis to help her with base work. “The research has so far been handled by me,” she says. What inspires her is that anything and everything can be made into art. “There are thousands of Indian and international artists who transform just anything into an art piece so beautifully. Their perspective, their approach, their colour palette, everything inspires me,” Bansal avers. “I am greatly influenced by the various Indian art forms, which are so intricate, depicting a story with every detail and with a rich cultural heritage. I would love to paint them in a way that can revive them in a different way,” she adds.

Siddharth Shingade’s colour palette with bright reds, deep browns, golden yellows and pistachio greens not just reflects the sombre mood of the painting, but echoes the intimate relationship that he shares with his homeland
Text: Team Art Soul Life

The deeper the roots, the greater the fruits. This is true of the plant kingdom, and it is also true of 37-year-old Siddharth Shingade, who despite the exposure to modern trends and techniques of the international art scene, remains rooted to native flavour. Everything in Shingade’s artwork – right from the colours to the motifs, from the subjects to his techniques – remind you of his roots in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, once known for its valour and bravery, but now reduced to being one of India’s worst drought-affected regions. The artist’s strong connection to his roots is depicted in his paintings that echo the mellowed mood of his people and their daily lives. Shingade, who swears he was born to paint, has developed a personal language of art, using which he populates his surfaces with tall figures that appear to be wrapped in history. Mysterious, they seem to be telling a million stories. As Shingade blows a breath of fresh air while valiantly telling the tales of his community, his society rejuvenates on the canvas. His colour palette with bright reds, deep browns, golden yellows and pistachio greens not just reflects the sombre mood of the painting, but echoes the intimate relationship that he shares with his homeland as well as showcase the warmth of the climate and the simple lifestyle of the subject. Says Shingade: “Since childhood, I was aware that I could only do painting rather than anything else. But I didn’t know one could make a career out of just painting. It was only after I had a talk with my uncle that I decided to go with the flow. That’s how my art journey started, which meant leaving my village and staying away from my family and my friends for some years,” he recalls. The move wasn’t easy for someone with such a deep emotional connection with his place of birth. “But it was a small price to pay for a better uture ahead,” he reasons. Shingade, who graduated from L.S. Raheja School of Art, Mumbai, with a G D in Painting, and also went to Sir J.J. School of Art, says he was left speechless when he first saw Austrian master Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. “The colours, forms, and the subjects touched me very deep inside. One of his paintings, The Kiss, an oilon- canvas painting with added gold leaf, silver and platinum, influenced me a lot,” he says. “So much so that when I was doing my art college assignment, his textures and colours started reflecting on my canvas. I was so happy, but my uncle realised it immediately and taught me to differentiate between influence and inspiration.” Another artist who inspired Shingade was Datta Bansode from the art school in Latur, who once made the town famous with his characteristic black-and-white drawings of Buddha. “During my college days in Latur, he had lots of influence on my work and style. He had painted a woman wearing a hijab and all I could see was her face and hands. So every day, I would admire this same painting until one day I had a profound connection. That woman had so much to say… that painting influenced me a lot,” Shingade says. The artist says nowadays he influences his own self. “My past work offers me endless inspiration. You see, emotion is the reflection of a particular time and space which you cannot hold but can sure understand,” he philosophises. Shingade says that Prabhakar Kolte, the great abstractionist of India, advised him once: “It is very important for an artist to accept solitude because out of that solitude, arises self-reflection and introspection that gives birth to creativity.” Talking of his work, Shingade says he uses mixed media and acrylic to impart textures and details to his artwork with deep earthy tones and a rustic colour palette to illustrate the mellowed mood of his people. “My paintings are monochromatic with a pop of colours, often resonating the dry grounds of my native place and depicting the everyday struggle of the local people, or stories from mythology – Krishna, Shiv-Parvati, or someone else,” he says. It is said that a picture tells a thousand words. Shingade’s paintings are perfect illustrations of this phrase. He is not only an artist, but he is also a storyteller. He weaves appealing stories in his mind and beautifully portrays them on canvas, then, he breathes life into these paintings with his muted,rustic colour palette. Shingade doesn’t attempt to make his work light or add humour. There is a depth, an ongoing conversation that the viewer can listen to. “The deep browns and golden yellows draw upon the warmth of the Marathwada climate as well as its people,” he explains. The mood in his paintings, however, remains sombre, perhaps a reflection of the oppression faced by his people and more so the women. He fashions the hues into its people; farmers, herdsmen. The most striking aspect of his artwork, however, is the insight into the fluidity of Indian livelihood in its villages, especially the women and the stark environment, without stereotyping and self-conscious posturing labourers and even those who share this heat and dust with them on the margins, the mendicants. On his explorations beyond figurative painting, he says: “The other major shift that came into my work has been the introduction of landscapes in the form of trees mainly. This is a subject that was already a part of my earlier work, but has taken centrestage, through different compositions and media. This has also given me the opportunity to work in the very painstaking medium of pen on canvas and also charcoal on canvas.” A close look at his work reveals his signature style of combining black, bold charcoal tones in charcoal. “The form of the tree has fired my imagination to a point where I am also thinking about dabbling in sculpture, in the future.Time will tell how this will shape out. But one thing is certain, there is a lot of new work in my mind that I have to manifest in my art in the years to come,” he says.

Urbanisation and cityscapes interest Digbijayee Khatua, who likes to facilitate a dialogue with the urban features of fragile relationships and the awkwardness of coexistence
Text: Team Art Soul Life

As Marco Polo entertains the Great Khan in Invisible Cities: “Cities are like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is a secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful and everything conceals something else.” (Calvino 1972, p 44). Our built environment contains meaning, in the course of human history; our fears and desires, our dreams and nightmares have all been given urban form. It is not only architects and city planners, who help shape a city, but also those creative minds with ideas and visions for what a city should be like and how it should function. Delhibased artist Digbijayee Khatua is one such talented soul for whom every aspect of it – from a city’s landscape and architecture, to its infrastructure and sewage system, to its people and their activities- is a muse. If it was left to Khatua, whose practice is vastly influenced and marked by his shift from Odisha to Delhi and personal encounter with the ever-changing cityscape, evident in his recording of minute details, both real and imagined, designing cities will always be more of an art than science. Khatua says he has always been interested in urbanisation and cityscapes as a subject matter. “I came to Delhi in 2012 for my Master’s from Delhi College of Art and would go around wide-eyed exploring and absorbing the art scene here.,” he says. “I believe I stayed back not only for the exposure, but also for the intriguing challenges this city throws up every now and then. This fascination allows me to paint real and imaginary details of the ever-changing cityscape.”

Subjects such as time, isolation, and transition stir him and he likes to facilitate a dialogue with them long with the urban features of fragile relationships, and the awkwardness of coexistence. “To that end, I reate miniature-like details in the narrative paintings,” says Khatua, who fuses the stylistic elements of iniature paintings and traditional Patta paintings in a contemporary context. “My latest series of paintings traces a trajectory in a diorama of a fictitious rural land, gradually developing into farmland and then into a town. Beginning with a square of Styrofoam, I carved mountains, valleys, rivers and ponds, and propagated a verdant landscape with wire and foam trees.” Khatua, whose artistic oeuvre is primarily inspired by the traditional Patta paintings of Odisha, says his recent works see some experimentation with a meticulous rendition of the wash technique on multiple layers of paper which gives the works a pronounced effect of relief. “This implies a metaphor of the layered realities in the city life,” he explains. “Watercolours are an important part of my expression, which enables me to juxtapose translucency and depth in the paintings. The process can take months to realise once the basic idea and concept is in place.”

“I stayed back in Delhi not only for the exposure, but also for the intriguing challenges this city throws up every now and then. This fascination allows me to paint real and imaginary details of the everchanging cityscape.”

From painting uncanny semblances of landscapes and the still life around him in Orissa, to following a ore conceptually strong practice in Delhi, he sees a maturity seep in his works and his sensibility as an artist. He says: “Living in the cultural capital comes with challenges of its own and in stark contrast with my hometown, the city is constantly affected by unnatural elements of pollution, corruption, etc., while on the face of it, everyone is quite taken in by its (artificial) magnificence.” Khatua says his rural background, an appeal of the urban lifestyle and the metropolitan has instigated in him the desire to see the city architecture, its view, history, design, culture, and the mundane day to day life. “I’m mostly influenced by the complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation. A big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs and the interwoven relationship and juxtaposition of differences overlapping one another to form a throbbing metropolitan life that fascinates me,” he says.

Ask him how he first began to develop his unique style and he says, “I have been observing how the city life grows with a departure from natural elements and everyone feels lively with man-made beauty which comes with its complications. The visuals in my works gain various perspectives and layers while rowsing through compartmentalised renditions of the city.” Explaining the process, Khatua says he explores a iversity of details in naturalist, man-made objects. “The subject is articulated in abstract and stylised forms to embellish the surface of the paper as threedimensional spaces with metal work, papermaking, watercolour and found objects,” informs the artist, who besides watercolours, has broadly worked with burnt paper, matchstick wood, and found objects as a medium. “These works deal with objects and landscapes within the city, and I often include small detailed drawings which elevate the work from being just one of many elements within a landscape. Over time, the structure of buildings become more isolated. I can trace the movement from drawing to painting to paper-cutting and forming layers to make for a three-dimensional form.”

For someone who’s always interested in mastering new skills, Anjali Khosa Kaul says the exploration of new mediums is fuelled by her desire to further her artistic expression and delight her audience
Text: Team Art Soul Life

They say that visual language gets embedded in you when you grow up with artists. It’s true in the case of New Delhi-based Anjali Khosa Kaul whose father, Kashmiri Khosa, is an artist of repute and so was her grandfather Somnath Khosa. “Yes, it is true in my case as my grandfather was a realistic painter and an art director, who spent many years of his life painting the life of Mahatma Gandhi,” she informs. “My father is a contemporary artist, who has been working in both oil and acrylic on varied topics. I have seen and observed both of them working in their own styles and this helped me in understanding the nuances of colour and composition early in my life.” She says both have influenced and inspired her artistic techniques. “I would also like to even my mother Lakshmi Khosa, though not an artist by profession, has a very strong visual language.” She says her mother is responsible for not only instilling strong values, but also inspiring Kaul with her artistic work, which were usually then in the form of designing and sewing her clothes. “She has also dabbled in drawing and used to earlier do some pencil sketching,” Kaul tells us. Ask her about her earliest memories of art, Kaul says she was fortunate to have grown up in the company of artists, poets, dancers and theatre actors. “All such individuals frequented our place during those days and that played a major role in broadening my horizons and understanding of art as a child,” she says. “When I was in school, I accompanied my father to an art camp in Ganderbal, Kashmir, which was attended by many eminent artists of that time. I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to observe them working in their varied styles.” To name a few who inspired her, there was Dhanraj Bhagatji, Biman Das and V.R. Khajuria. “Dhanraj Bhagatji was working at that time in wood and that is where I got fascinated with wood as a medium for sculptures and later in life did an extensive series of sculptures in wood,” she says. Though she was into sculpture, whenever she played with colour and canvas, her father provided her an insight of the medium. Kaul says growing up to be an artist came naturally to her as she was brought up in an environment where everyone in my family was into art and aesthetics and they used to have a lot of creative discussions at home. “Also, as I said earlier, the frequent gatherings of eclectic groups of artists at our house further ensured that my mind was always occupied with various forms of creation and expression,” she says. “Even though I daresay my father never wanted his children to become artists as he considered art as a means to achieve livelihood to be a constant struggle. So say that beyond my grandfather and father, like every good parent, he also wanted his kids to have a much more comfortable life. But like they say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and the rest is history,” she chuckles. Talking about the various mediums she has worked with, Kaul says her first series of sculptures were in bronze titled “Along the Waves”. This series depicted the human forms, their moods and postures. The second series of sculptures were in terracotta again with human mood and posture. “For the next series, I tried my hand with wood titled ‘Growth’ in which I explored nature in its various moods. Thereafter, I worked in mixed media for some time keeping on Indian religious motifs as the central theme,” she informs. “Even though I specialised in sculpture, I was always interested in sketching and so my next show was charcoal, pen and pencil drawings. Thereafter I ventured into painting and participated in various group shows with my abstract compositions in acrylic on canvas.” At present, Kaul is working in ceramics and also keeping herself engaged by formulating a series of pen drawings. “So, to sum it up, I enjoy working in varied mediums and I am always interested in mastering new skills. My exploration of new mediums is fuelled by my desire to further my artistic expression and delight my audience,” she avers. Spiritual by nature, Kaul practices meditation, which helps her achieve a sense of calm and peace. “I believe meditation is a prerequisite for better understanding of your own self, which then translates into more meaningful work,” she says, adding, “Also, I believe being in and enjoying nature in itself is a spiritual pursuit. So my work derives a lot of inspiration from the same.” When asked to describe her art, Kaul says she doesn’t preconceive her work. “I work with my intuition and gut. Essentially, I do what I feel like doing in that particular time, space and my state of mind. It is only later when I have a body of work of that time that I start relating and connecting my work with each other,” she explains. Kaul says she feels happy when the viewer perceives her work closer to her thought process. “But I feel art, or any other creative work, should be open to interpretation. Art in my opinion is subjective, and thus open to the human mind’s imaginative amplitude and dictated by the viewer’s mind and aesthetic,” she tells her opinion candidly. Kaul says she works for her own happiness and artistic satisfaction and does not worry about its financial aspect, or a scheduled targeted mission. “In the process, I hope to experience and seek delight, introspection, surprise, fear, sadness and the entire range of human emotions and hopefully take my audience on that rollercoaster ride as well,” she adds. Originally a Kashmiri, Kaul says since she was born and brought up in Delhi, she did not experience the turmoil, unrest and disturbances of the valley. “So my work has largely remained unaffected by these happenings. But for the artists who were in Kashmir and migrated in the 90s during turbulence have expressed the feeling of suffering pain and sorrow in their work,” she says. Currently, the artist is engaged with pen drawings and glazed ceramic sculptures. “Ceramic is a totally new medium for me to experiment and I am trying to grasp the nitty gritty of this new material and understand how to achieve desired colours through various glazing techniques,” she says. “I am working in figurative ceramic sculptures and have a collection of unfired work, which could not be fired because of the pandemic situation. Once I will have these works fired and glazed, I will think about a show.” Kaul intends continuing with this medium for at least next two years as she feels this media will consume a lot of time and energy because of the technicalities involved. “I hope to create something unique, novel and innovative,” says the artist. Here’s wishing her the best!

Bharti Dayal’s Madhubani paintings have abstract elements and themes that appeal to the new generation alongside figurative motifs with Radha-Krishna and other deities as focal protagonists
TEXT: TEAM ART SOUL LIFE

Born at Samastipur and growing up in the Darbhanga district of Bihar’s Mithila region, National Award-winning artist Bharti Dayal is among those who have helped transform the once dying Madhubani into its contemporary art form. She has played a significant role in the re-emergence and propagation of this art form and is credited with contemporising the art form through the use of modern media (acrylic and canvas); and for bringing Madhubani art recognition within the world of fine art..She has represented India at various global platforms and through fusion of ancient Madhubani and modern times, Dayal in her 40-year-long art journey has not only revived it, but ensured that it gets a significant recognition and distinct positioning among leading art forms of India. Dayal’s art has been a token of national pride, especially that her work has been displayed by various presidents and prime ministers all over the globe. While being an advocate of the Madhubani style of painting, she’s also been supporting and mentoring up-and-coming Madhubani artists to create unique works of art. Talking about the history and origin of Madhubani painting, Dayal says the art form traces its origin to “Ramayana” where it is believed that King Janaka of Mithila commissioned local artists to paint murals and decorate the town with this art form for the wedding of his daughter Sita. “Gradually, Madhubani art came to symbolise women’s empowerment, as the women began to paint pictures of gods and goddesses. Women have transmitted the beauty, love, care, environmental consciousness, traditions and faith incorporated in this art form for generations,” Dayal informs. The art started transforming in 1934 when there was an earthquake in the region and most of the walls crumbled. “It was William G. Archer, who was the British colonial officer of Madhubani district in the 1930s, while inspecting the damage noticed these paintings on the walls and photographed them,” she says, adding, “He wrote about them in an article and after a few decades, between 1966 and 1968 a drought crippled the agricultural economy of the region. Bhashkar Kulkarni, who was then the director of the Handicrafts Board, based in Mumbai, encouraged the women to replicate their mural paintings on paper and facilitated sales, as a source of income to ensure their survival.” Beginning from a young age, Dayal also learnt Madhubani painting from her mother and grandmother. A Master’s in Science, she continued her passion drawing alpana on the floor and sketching epic scenes on the walls to celebrate auspicious occasions. Using natural vegetable dyes and crushed rice paste on handmade paper, cotton and silk fabric and canvases, she continued to practice in her spare time and refined her skills. Her works are essentially an amalgamation of the ancient Madhubani art form and modern times, without deviating from the core features of the Mithila tradition. Marked for its rich colours and dense form, in Madhubani style, her art has a refreshing feel, given its assimilation of newer imagery with folk imprints and philosophical underpinnings. The focal protagonists in her works are Radha-Krishna and other deities worshiped in the region. “My paintings have abstract elements alongside figurative motifs.

They are a combination of tattoo motifs, lines, concentric circle motifs of flora and fauna, figures from the spirit world and elements from animistic traditions. Care is taken to encompass elements and themes that appeal to the new generation besides divine icons,” she tells. Dayal says the art form is known for its five distinctive styles: Bharni, Kachni, Tantrik, Gobar and Godna (tattooing). Each style was practiced by a particular social group although all styles retained a uniformity in their focus on the depiction of divinity, rituals, natural elements and daily life.

Talking about the significance of Madhubani, Dayal says the philosophy of this art form, which is a living tradition, is essentially based on the principle of dualism. She explains: “Opposites run parallel to each other: life and death, day and night, joy and sorrow, body and soul etc. They are featured in the imagery to represent a holistic universe. For example, the fish is an auspicious sign for growth and prosperity, the parrot signifies love and sexuality and the peacock suggests romance and devotion. There are also bamboo trees and lotus leave symbolising fertility and the continuation of human life.” Geometric patterns and sacred enclosures, within the composition, drawn in multiple lines are inspired by the tantric traditions of the region. “The elaborate kohbar, or paintings on the walls of the nuptial chamber during weddings, always comprised the moon, sun, tortoise, snake, lotus and bamboo trees as symbols of the female and male genitalia,” she explains further. “Navgraha or the nine planets – the sign of the cosmos, bestows love, prosperity and fertility on the newlyweds. Turquoise blue, which is mostly used in the paintings, symbolises the water and sky. Red signifies auspiciousness and also suggests aggression and passion. Green is associated with greed as well as nature and blue stands for peace.” Showing professionally since 1991, Dayal says to keep the art form alive, we must have a museum with proper documentation of the history of this art form to protect this heritage. “At the same time we need to train children to paint and also give them the opportunity to imbibe, appreciate and preserve this art form for the future generations,” she avers. Commercialisation has also been affecting this art form in a negative way. “Duplication and replication are rampant, which is bad for the art form,” says Dayal. “It is losing its glory, essence and originality. The most important aspect of this art form is its feminine expression, but with the changing scenario, that has been lost. We need to create and think of new and contemporary subjects to bring back the glory of this ancient art.” The artist, whose work has been exhibited in numerous shows across India and internationally and in documentary films made by French Television and Discovery Channel, says she sought to redress a deplorable practice that had seeped into the work of Madhubani painters. Dayal informs, “Most of them, scarcely educated, only replicated earlier works even if the original piece was stricken with egregious flaws. While remaining true to our traditional roots, I sought to induce an intellectual edge into my paintings, thus lending them a more contemporary look. Today, I have several associate Madhubani artists in Bihar with whom I work in unison to create unique works of art. No time frame can be given for the completion of a painting. It can be a whole day under the effect of inspiration, while others can linger on for months.”

Using nothing but a pencil and an x-acto knife, Delhi-based kirigami artist Vanshika Rathi turns plain pieces of paper into extraordinarily complex works of art TEXT: TEAM ART SOUL LIFE

“Having perfected her paper-cutting technique over a period spanning a few years, she is now widely known for her intricately detailed designs, which capture her skillful approach, steady hand, and unwavering patience.”

When you think of Japanese paper crafts, origami is likely the first art form to come to mind. If you’re familiar with this age-old practice, you know that a work of origami art is created by manipulating a single sheet of paper with nothing but a series of strategic folds. While this is the most well-known approach to the ancient art form, there are also adaptations. Kirigami, a variation of origami, offers a bit more creative freedom by allowing artists to cut, clip, and snip their paper creations. “Kirigami is the Japanese name for the art of cutting paper,” informs Delhibased Vanshika Rathi. “Originating in China, this art form has evolved uniquely all over the world to adapt to different cultural styles.” Rathi says it’s a traditional art often depicting folk tales and religious stories from across the world. “One traditional distinction most styles share in common is that the designs are cut from a single sheet of paper. Usually thin tissue-like papers and washi papers are used, which are cut with a small pair of scissors, although I prefer to use an x-acto knife,” she says.

Ever since she was a child, art was always just a hobby for her. “I’d spend most of my time at school doodling on the edges of my books. But I was a good student and it never really occurred to me to pursue art seriously,” she says, adding, “I studied economics at the University of Warwick, followed by a masters’ at the London School of Economics. Whilst at university, I came across some beautiful paper cuttings by Danish artist Karen Bit Vejle. I had never seen anything like it before, and I was so taken with the idea that I immediately went and bought myself some paper and tools, and I haven’t stopped doing it since.” Explaining the process, Rathi says she draws her work on a single, large sheet of paper and then carves it with an x-acto knife. “The key is to make sure while drawing that every single element is connected. Cutting the paper is a therapeutic process where I simply follow the drawing. Once that’s done, I flip it over so that the pencil lines do not show, so I always have to remember to draw a mirror image of whatever I have in mind,” she says. A self-taught artist, Rathi says ever since she started practicing kirigami, she has learnt mostly through trial and error. “While I didn’t learn this art from anyone specifically, I have taken a lot of advice from other artists, tried out several types of papers and knives, and over the years created a technique that is entirely my own. There are several paper artists around

the world and each time I contact anyone asking for advice, they are always ready to help and each time I find that I have learned something new,” she says. After completing her education, she had a corporate job for a while. During this time, she would get back home every evening and spend several hours working on small pieces for herself, exploring different tools, techniques and topics, and this was always the best part of her day.

“I would often post pictures of my work on Instagram and many were intrigued by it. It took about two years – and several inquiries from people who wanted to buy my works – for me to realise that this was worth quitting my job for, and I began doing this full time in 2017,” she says. For Rathi, her art started out as an extension of her doodles and it is inspired by everyday objects, travel and architecture. She loves adding whimsical, fairytale-like, and unexpected floral elements to her work. “I especially like to approach it with a bit of light-heartedness and humour. Paper cutting is a slow art, and a large piece typically takes two to three months to make,” she reveals. Rathi says paper art is typically seen as a traditional craft. “However, there are some incredible paper artists in India and people are slowly warming up to the idea of seeing paper as a contemporary art form. Through my works, I often reimagine everyday things, bringing beauty and a touch of whimsy into mundane everyday life,” she adds. Currently she’s working on a series that explores a physical depiction of the movement of time. “This is my most abstract theme yet so I’m excited to see how it turns out,” she says.