Having lived in three continents and four countries, I belong to a world where change is the only constant. My work has been as inspired and altered by the challenges of new opportunities as by the limitations brought by new circumstances,” says ceramic artist Madhvi Subrahmanian.Showcasing her artwork at the Gallery Art Motif, Safdarjung Enclave, along with two other artists— Neha Lavingia and Sheetal Gattani—Madhvi feels incubation, growth and movement find repeated expression in her works.
Sheetal joins in, “I have been working in the realm of non-representational work since I started about 30 years ago. My current body of work that consist of drawings on paper also involves paper carving. The practice involves peeling the layers of the paper to slowly build up the work. My drawings are primarily done using a blade and the medium would be charcoal and dry pastels.”
Repeating the process several times is Sheetal’s approach to this body of work, which started as an inquiry into what is ‘drawing’. The artist says she is yet to find the answer to the eternal artistic quest.
For Neha, art is about sobering emotions. “I represent my experiences using the delight and wonder of Nature around me. The small format of my work gives me and the viewer a sense of intimacy. The works have to be seen to experience their intimate delicacy bordering on abstraction that is on offer in their miniature form,” she says.
In a similar vein, Madhvi allows the subconscious to filter through the creative aspect of her mind.
“I strive to make forms and use surfaces that could become a meeting ground for the primal and the contemporary, the geometric and the organic and the ephemeral and the everlasting,” she smiles.
But Nature and surroundings also hold sway over the artist, don’t they? Neha agrees, adding that she borrows visual cues from her immediate surroundings.
“The process often begins with my attention focusing on mundane elements in my sight: a stack of bricks, a flowing net, a patch on a wall, floating clouds or dry and green vines. And I find connections between these elements with and experiences of all the forms-happiness, sadness, anger, pain, beauty,” she says. In the diversity of forms, what unites the three artists is their quest for elusive perfection.
Madhvi Subrahmanian
Madhvi Subrahmanian was trained under Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith at the Golden Bridge Pottery in Pondicherry and attained her Masters in Fine arts from USA. She has been a recipient of several awards including the Charles Wallace Grant and India Foundation of the Arts. Her sculptures and installations can be seen at the Mumbai Domestic Airport, India, Shigaraki Ceramic Sculptural Park, Japan, and Fule museum in Fuping, China.FUTURE FORWARD: To continue my explorations in my chosen medium
Neha Lavingia
Neha obtained a diploma in painting at the CN College of Fine Arts, Ahmedabad, and a post diploma in Print Making at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Vadodara. She has held solo shows of her work and participated in group shows in India, as well as in international Print Making exhibitions in India and France.FUTURE FORWARD: Want my work to reach out to more people
Sheetal Gattani
A Bachelor and Masters degree-holder in Fine Arts from the Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai, Sheetal is the recipient of the Raza Award, the Bombay Art Society Award, and Merit Scholarships at the Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai. She has held several solo exhibitions of her work and participated in group exhibitions, too.FUTURE FORWARD: My work dictates my plans ahead
WHEN & WHERE
Exhibition: Drawings, Paintings and Ceramics
Dates: On till February 24
Time: 10 am to 6 pm
Venue: Gallery Art Motif, Safdarjung Enclave, Fourth Floor, New Delhi 29