NEW DELHI: A few steps down the hallway, 14 artists draw a bright bold path to a powerful vision for the future. These are women who paint fellow women in a feminine stance that sparks the inherent shakti in them. Backing these women up is another women, who being an artist, understands the need for extending support to them.
The exhibit is being hosted by Vimla Gallery of Art, a branch of Grains Of Canvas that gives artists a platform. It also invites all those to want to learn art.
The latest Women’s Day exhibition puts together works by artists including Aakanksha Dewan, a graphic designer who likes to experiment with her representations, specially nature, a theme she enjoys most.
There is Mannat Sethi, a fashion designer from National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi. The dominant aspect in her work is depiction of hard labour and unity.
For Manju Thakur, inspiration comes in the form of the simple things of life. The terracotta Goddesses of the Indus Valley Civilization, being one.
Another artist is Meetu Kapoor, who comes with a degree in Advanced Designing in Multimedia. Self-study and self-evaluation are prerequisites to be a successful artist, she believes. Her creations are spun around mythology and philosophy. She is somebody who is greatly inclined spiritually, and that’s why, she is able to connect with matters pertaining to the higher goals of life. You’ll see her art presenting a mix of reality inspired concepts, interspersed with imagination.
Then there is Megha Vij who shows her skillfullness in figures. She is seen choosing narratives from traditional rural heritage of India. Within the external images of bulls, cows and goats, there are figurative and abstract shapes, with lighter tones of colour used to accentuate the hook idea.
In the last four years, Vimla Gallery of Art has organised four exhibitions. “We are purposeful in our intent, and therefore, would like to remain true to what we put up. It’s not about the number of shows we organise, but about what their meaning is,” says Kanchan Mehra, the owner of the gallery.
Belonging to an army background, she believes her interest in art got a voice while doing up her home in every place she was posted to. It was in Wellington, where her husband was posted at the time, that she took her first class. It was in oil painting. Mehra owes a lot to her mentor, artist Dilip Sharma, also the Director of Grains of Canvas.
A Bachelor of Science by degree, Mehra spent her later years devoted to the aesthetics of visual forms. “In fact, I also did my Hotel Management, but eventually, it was art that kept my attention,” she says.
Four years back, when she came to Delhi to do something of her own, she began to think of opening a gallery. In Vasant Vihar then, she developed the idea of Vimla Gallery of Art. Now, based in Gurgaon, she is trying to get connoisseurs to view her curations, and join in her specialised professional classes. “I wanted to get through to people and a gallery was the best way. Now that Grains of Canvas is registered as an NGO, we plan to do a lot of work, including art camps for children, exhibitions, classes and workshops,” she says.
Mehra seems to be holding on well considering the limitations that artists and art all over the world is facing—lack of proclivity for the arts and the insufficiency of knowledge to appreciate it. But you never know when the tide changes, and sweeps us all into the depth of artistic flavours. She is waiting for that very moment.
On view till March 31, from 12 noon to 6 pm, at Vimla Gallery of Art, Plot No 1396, Sector 46, Gurugram.