Phulkari Series Painting

Having worked in Public Relations for a few years, I followed my dream of being close to the art world after completing intensive short courses in Art curation, Contemporary art market as well as Art history at The Sotheby’s Institute in New York in 2014. Learning a lot during that time, visiting not only established but also newly set up galleries, I then returned to Delhi to work with startup galleries as a consultant, eventually moving onto specializing in gallery and exhibition set -ups, a niche area that is invaluable to artists as well as new comers in the gallery space. These years of working and interacting with young artists motivated me to complete a full circle and start painting once again, which is something I had always dabbled in, informally. The act of painting for me may be spontaneous and develops with each stroke or medium applied, however, the sentiment and idea behind it is most certainly a definite thought. I work with a host of different mediums and tools to create textures and layers, which is what I love about my practice. The open-ended nature of the abstractions, allow the viewers to decide for themselves the various possibilities and narratives of each work! My first show ‘Unt1tled’ in November 2017, was a collection of honest abstract expression inspired by a particular mood, environment, memory or sensation at a particular point in time. It was completely spontaneous, unpremeditated and unplanned at the moment of execution. The various textures, strokes and medium were a reflection of a very unconstrained and fluid implementation that seems to float in and out of one’s consciousness, all the while remaining familiar - yet just out of grasp. My second solo show ‘Confluence’ in October 2019, came about after my visit to Amritsar in January 2019. Visits to the Partition Museum, my ancestral home and the Golden Temple brought about a sense of nostalgia in some ways and also that of ‘belonging’. It immediately led to a million ideas brewing in my head and in turn the pièce de résistance‘Undivided’. My work titled ‘Undivided’ is a creative representation on pre partition Punjab-The land of the 5 rivers and that of my ancestors. Other facets of the collection were an amalgamation of my memories and impressions of travels to my childhood home in the hills of Kasauli, as well as the articulation of feelings and emotions inspired by a particular environment, state of mind, memory or sensation.