Times of need Painting

Shefali Ranthe is an award-winning contemporary artist who has quickly established herself as a rising star of the Middle Eastern art world. Shefali was born in Bangladesh and adopted to Denmark as an infant. After spending her youth in Denmark she then spent 10 years living in vibrant Dubai and has only recently relocated back to Denmark where she is now based in Copenhagen. Shefali is a self-taught artist and is known for her brilliant compositions, vivid hues and rich textures, all that lead to the joy of life. This aspect of her art has opened up multiple meanings as she is engaged with representing ideas of existence, mythology, cultural codes, and intricacies of psyche – both individual and cultural. The 50’s art scene lays ground for Shefali’s paintings. Inspiration is found in the CoBrA and Avant Garde movement, and her paintings are defined by a unique style of semi-abstract, naïve and spontaneous compositions of creatures, both human and from the animal kingdom. Through her work Shefali depicts situations with the intention of evoking stories in her audience. She tries not to be too literal, so individuals have space to discover their own feelings and reactions. Story telling is important to Shefali as she believes the ability to tell them is an essential part of our being. However, abstraction does not mean a complete detachment from the world which contains our emotions, feelings, passions and dreams. Entities which cannot be visualized but sensed, stored and remembered. Shefali attempts to reach that depth of human psyche through her brilliantly constructed canvases. The inclusion of primordial images: birds, fish, etc., are like linking her aesthetics to the history of art, especially the art of Prehistory, in which familiar animals were depicted as signs, rather than physical creatures. Shefali says of her work, “Due to a traumatic childhood where I lost my mother, the search for a happy family life means everything to me. For me, art is about creating happiness, surprise and feelings. Art makes me feel alive, and I seek to share an experience of harmony and long lasting joy with my surroundings”. Shefali’s work has now reached a level of maturity and assurance that continues to attract new audiences and collectors. Her work has been displayed around the world to great appreciation and demand, with particular interest from The National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2022, 2019 and 2017.