Meet the Artist - Sunita Wadhawan

At the tail end of last week, I was feeling a little cultural and decided to make my first (and solo) visit to the Jehangir Art Gallery in the arty district of Kala Ghoda (near Fort and adjacent to the Prince of Wales Museum which I have previously written about).

The Jehangir is not really like any other art gallery you will find in most metropolitan cities - because the works of all the artists are actually for sale. There are four large exhibition spaces at The Jehangir plus another smaller one on the roof.  I understand that there is a long waiting list to exhibit one's works at the gallery, it being the most prestigious and famous in the city.

 

Image that attracted me to The Jehangir Art Gallery
(Courtesy of Sunita Wadhawan's website)

 

Within the first few minutes of getting there I could already tell that there wasn't much to interest me in Exhibition rooms 1 to 3 (nothing really to my taste) but when I went upstairs and entered the Hirji Jehangir space, I was immediately drawn to the style and colours of the paintings that I saw there.

 

 

The vibrant art that was being displayed in this room was by Mumbai based artist Sunita Wadhawan - a young and rather professional looking lady with a Bachelor of Arts degree attained from the Sir JJ School of Art in 2009.  A self pronounced 'enthusiatic and exuberant personality', Sunita personally took me through a video about herself and her art, explaining her inspirations and influences.

 

 

 

Sunita is a person who is definitely very much at peace with herself and this is reflected in her paintings.  Butterflies are a common motif in her work which is also very feminine - you will find women depicted in a majority of her art. She is also influenced by the yoga of which she is a practitioner and teacher. Sunita is definitely one creative and multi-talented lady!

What personally attracted me within her display were the cute, colourful and cartoonish paintings of Ganesha.  I had been seeking a Ganesha model or painting for some time, so that I could erect a do-it-yourself shrine in the apartment.  When I saw this little fella, I fell in love immediately!  He now sits on a cabinet in the flat, looking down at me while I work.

 

Our new visitor

 

Unfortunately I was a bit late posting this blog about Sunita as she was only displaying at the The Jehangir until 8th January.  However, you can catch her online at http://www.sunitawadhawan.com where you will find samples of her work and information about future exhibitions.  Sunita also conducts painting classes at her home in Chembur several mornings a week - she tried to tempt me in but I don't think I'd know where to begin!

A selection of her very feminine paintings

Some more of those wonderful Ganesha 'cartoons'.

The artist herself with one of the centrepieces of the exhibition. 

Sunita Wadhawan's website can be found here: http://sunitawadhawan.com/

 

The Jehangir Art Gallery

161 KALAGHODA, MUMBAI,
MAHARASHTRA 400001 : INDIA

 

Check out their rather hard to read website for information about current exhibitions and activities.  Entry is free.

 

Shop: Pictures For Our Pad

Feeling that the walls of our apartment were somewhat lacking in character, I decided to go out and acquire a whole load of Indian style pictures/art/paintings.  Well actually I bought one painting from Baaya Design in Raghuvanshi Mills and then the salesman talked me into buying several more.  Now he thinks it's Christmas every time I walk into his store.  Mr Jules knew nothing of my art acquiring exploits until these items magically appeared in the apartment.

Here are the results:

Very large black ink painting on silk from a Tribal Village in Orissa.  Tells a story which I am yet to figure out.

Goes nicely over our sofa if you can ignore the flourescent tube lighting  
(Saggy sofa for lounging from Le Mill, cushions from beloved Good Earth)

Two Madhubani Paintings (or Mithila Art as originates from Mithila region of Bihar) is characterised by double line drawings filled in with bright contrasting colours and intricate patterns.  There seems to be an orange theme emerging in our sitting room so these match perfectly.  Chrome light from FabIndia.

This is a Gond Tribal painting originating from Madhya Pradesh (with a reflection of my arm).  Gond paintings express rituals or practices linked to their day-to-day lives, religious sentiments and devotions.  They are done by tribal women of the village using simple homemade colours and with objects of daily life being depicted - such as horses, elephants, tiger, birds, gods and men.



The colours of the painting perfectly match the cushions in the
guest bedroom (from Good Earth)



Another Gond Painting depicting birds, this time in plain black on cream background.



Ties in with this gorgeous colonial Goan-Portuguese rosewood
and rattan bedroom chair that we acquired from Chor Bazaar



I love these fun vintage Bollywood posters that we picked up in Chor Bazaar for about £3 each(Mr Jules had some say in this purchase).  However the framing was about £60 each!  We don't have a clue what they say, hopefully someone will be able to explain them to us at some point.

Baaya Design: http://www.baayadesign.com/beta/ 
11/12, Raghuvanshi Mills Compounds, Senapati Bapat Marg,
Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013
(Near the big Good Earth shop in Raghuvanshi Mills)

Chor Bazaar (see my previous posting)