On October 5th Jehangir Art Gallery displayed paintings by a group of notable painters who touched the hearts of many art enthusiasts present at the inauguration. The name of the painting exhibition is Reva and it consists of a group of four artists from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
Notable painters like Vandita Srivastava showcased her work at the exhibition. Her paintings capture the mundane life of a village.
She talks about her inspiration behind her art work, “I got inspiration from Indian culture and traditions. I had an interest in paintings from the very beginning when I started. Then my daughter encouraged me to pursue arts and then I used Folk art as my way to present art. I started working on it in 2006.”
Her paintings are minimalist and mostly use black and white, “My paintings are mostly black and white that’s because it conveys a message of walking towards the light of hope from the darkness.”
Her influence has been folk culture of India, “The atmosphere in India and the way we live, the small things around us that makes us happy, influences my art work.”
She deeply feels that the purpose of her paintings is to spread happiness. Her paintings depict mundane yet extraordinary elements of daily life of a village, “The purpose behind my painting is to bring peace to humans. Someone watching this painting should get happiness and peace so that he can do his work well. The main aim of my paintings is to communicate peace and happiness so that the person finds himself and feels himself through my paintings.”
She adds “I am very influenced by the folk culture of India. The atmosphere in India and the way we live, the small things around us that makes us happy, influences my art work.”
Her medium of painting is mainly on paper using poster colours and water based colours.
Artist Trapti Gupta, is one of the exhibitors. The painter through her painting has shown her childhood memory, “I have many siblings. I have tried to capture childhood memories through my paintings. In one of the paintings I have shown three girls spending time together. In real life, my sisters are like my best friends and I tried to show the same.”
She talks about the message she wants to convey through her paintings, “The purpose of my paintings is that the people see their childhood memories through my work.”
The artist has captured the lifestyle of the new Indian generation. Hailing from Gwalior she has expressed through her painting her emotions for her family. Her paintings had a unique style that captured moments. Her medium of painting is pencil and pen.
Nature and landscape are inseparable from human life and an artist’s way to communicate the feelings for nature can be different.
Anurag Jadia, a landscape artist and a part of the group of painters talks about his work and inspiration, “There are two things; one is the colour of a landscape and the other is in which colour I imagine the landscape is in. For example, Mount Kailash is painted in different timings; in sunlight, moon light and natural light.”
He adds, “The purpose of using one striking colour is to capture the viewer’s attention then if he likes the painting he will be drawn to it or he will move ahead.” His favourite travel destination that inspired most of his work is Uttarakhand.
Mythologies are known to be an integral part of India’s rich culture and traditions. Philosophers like Kalidas have a deep impact on the lives of artists in India and overseas. Praveen Khare, one of the exhibitors, narrates stories through her paintings, “ They are narratives based on old stories. For example, a few of my paintings are based on the stories by Kalidas.”
She talks about her purpose, “The purpose of my painting is that the next generations also understand the traditional paintings. I have worked in Madhubani and these paintings are inspired by Madhubani but they are not exactly Madhubani.”
Her detailed laden art captures Samudra Manthan among other events in Indian Mythology. She talks about her medium, “My medium is ink and paper and if I am working on canvas then it’s acrylic.”
The Chief guest Chief Commissioner, Right to Guarantee of Services (RGS), Manu Kumar Srivastava praised the artistes and said, “There are 4 painters in Reva and they all have different styles of work. Their hard work can be seen in their paintings.”
The painters were praised for their excellent work by the chief guest
The exhibition was attended by the stalwarts from different industries such as Reena Unmesh Wagh, Nirmala Samant, Former Mayor of Mumbai, Former Chairperson Maharashtra State Women Commision, Ashok Golani,Nikky Goklani Industrialist
Arvind Shah, Industrialist, Kishore Khabia, Businessman, Shreyans Daga, Motivational Speaker, Manohar Bothra, Ex-Director SBI and KP Singh, MD, Think Media Group.
