Preeti Singh

Preeti Singh’s drawings reflect a certain complexity, often presenting remnants of memories arising from close attention to details in physical components around her and sometimes a momentary break from the outside world turning attention inwards. She describes her approach to creative expression as: “We survive through a sense of belonging, through spaces, objects, bodies we encounter. The sensations and feelings that emanate from these experiences create an economy of affects, which structures our ways of being in the world. The visual paraphernalia that I create is shaped by observing these nuanced discontinuous microcosms around us that continuously alters our sense of reality.
The collection of 6 mixed media drawings (part of a set of 80 drawings), is a peek into a the intricate tapestry of memories of the body in space and time, mythologies that shape our sense of self that intertwines the familiar and the fantastical, communicated through pictographic images.

This collection of drawings aims to encourage viewers to reflect on their own childhood memories that play a vital role in creating personal mythologies, which are a unique set of beliefs, narratives, symbols, and archetypes that an individual creates to make sense of their own life, experiences, and identity.”

Rakesh Kumar Gupta

Working within the limits of the known and imagined, Rakesh Kumar Gupta’s technique and use of specific colours amplify the resonance of his inner sentiments. His work has a certain quality that enables the viewer to contemplate either more deeply about abstraction or within the boundaries of representation, he tells us:
“In the past more than 3 decades, my work has evolved its own pictorial language.
For almost 15 years now, I have been working on ‘Heads’.

What is more compelling than the human head in the whole of the Universe! Mellowness has given way to a staccato manner so that I could strike assuredly, knock loud on the prospective sleepy viewer’s chest. The robust lines of these heads are more sculpturesque now. I try to keep them simple. The artistic reason for these varied heads is to express the emotions, attitudes, volitions, connotations, desires, feelings, states of mind and all that- not to describe them, so much so as to give vent to self. I create Heads with the instinct to evoke or provoke feelings. Each head here has a distinct expressive pictorial meaning. Each is a stimulus to the viewer. My purpose is to conjure the minds with vivid sensations.”

Ritika Mittal

Ritika Mittal acknowledges the immediacy of decisive linear expression in her works, where arrangements are formed spatially and dimensionally. Her art is influenced by her personal choice and inner necessity and her strokes are both intuitive and controlled. She explains further: “The works in the series of EMOTIVE LINES is to be understood as the appearances of balance, stability, calmness, strength and direction in life through various kinds of horizontal and vertical depiction. This connotes an inner representation of my feelings/emotions that becomes evident in thought, recollection, or dreaming, perhaps in the form of a reflection of the subconscious mind – how I perceive, think and respond to the situation in that particular moment of time and space. This reflection ignites my imagination triggered from the immediate space and helps in formulating the thought in linear pattern.”

Ritu Aggarwal

Ritu Aggarwal has absorbed the urban reality in its entirety, along with its empty and full spaces, and she visualises this beyond mere inhabitation or spatial documentation in order for others to experience it anew. The mesmerising abstraction in her paintings is a result of her efforts to conjoin a personal layer to make sense of it. She states: “I was born in a small town of India and was inspired by the metropolitan city and its architecture is an understatement. My work is solely inspired by the city, its architectural environment, towering edifices, and its chaotic and explosive energy. It also explores how the individual creates and interacts with the metropolis.

The compositions depict an Urban suspension deconstructs urbanism, presenting a chaotic assemblage of abstracted materials, where emerging shapes suggest the potential for future order, design construction and deconstruction for the human comforts. The composition is being directed by a lot of mediums like watercolor, dry pastels, charcoal and thread somewhere during the process. The coming together of architecture and the tones of charcoal may be seen as a synthesis of the city and nature.”

Shreya Shruti

Within a visual format, Shreya Shruti builds a world that can pull the viewer from a logical yet everyday setting of the world and into one that is more alive and provoking. The world she has conceived in her works has an undeniable attraction within it that allows us to detach from the obvious. It gives rise to a particular feeling, one that explores the depths of the mind and soul and instigates combining the elements of the real and the surreal. At the same time, her visuals, both still and moving, blend fantasy and dreams with a hint of reality. She explains further: “I often envision the mind as a vast space filled with numerous doors, doors nested within doors, each concealing a multitude of hidden, stored, lived, and forgotten stories. The fusion of surreal imagery and the establishment of connections between unrelated objects and individuals give rise to an abundance of new existences here.

In Solitaire, the pieces engage in a dialogue with one another. They resemble puzzle pieces, unaware of their correct positions, yet manage to form a bridge and establish a relationship – an effort to know each other perhaps?!

It’s a game of un-knowing. The execution of the absurd. The free will of non-sense. And yet, from mind to paper, a tangible connection is established.
The forms on paper, and the paper itself is alive in the realm of the mind. It is not restricted by its physical properties. Anything is possible! A distortion takes place, and it moves.

It can curl up and traverse now. Slide, crawl, walk and run…
An observing eye watches over these movements, simply maintaining surveillance.
Amidst these narratives, I exist. I leap from one piece to another. Door to door, Interweaving tales. I am the storyteller.”

Vandana Rakesh

With a complete faith in the free-flowing processes of memory and creative imagination, Vandana Rakesh perceived ideas are sensitive, profound and varied. The visual composition of each of her artwork is an external manifestation of something deeply contemplative which is the result of subjective and intuitive considerations of her self-exploration. Reviewing her artistic practice, she says: “Painting is meditation to me. I am at peace and happiness is what I get while working.

I usually don’t think of any subject before creating anything. It’s all imaginative and intuitive. My journey is inward. My work is a reflection of what I have acquired from society. Whatever I read, see, hear, make an impression on my mind and my subconscious mind reflects that as an imagery. Music is my second companion. My journey is to reach a level where there is no sound, no image. I call it ‘Shunya se Shunya tak’ (from zero to zero). I want to empty my head and heart of all worldly things to reach a point where I could see the light inside me of all the 7 qualities of a soul, that is – Purity, Peace ,Power, love, Happiness, Wisdom and Bliss, to create positive vibes in order to make it a better world to live in.”