aRTALK: 38 IN 38-'A SPLASH OF COLOR'

18th September 2019 saw the coming together of 38 Chandigarh women artists to exhibit their art works under one roof. Rani Laxmi Bai Bhawan ,Sector 38 –C, was the venue .The event started with soul stirring music by Chandigarh Community based music group Soul’s Diet. It was a grand show organised to mark the inaugural show of Chandigarh Lalit Kala at this particular venue,’38 women artists in sector 38’.

The exhibition was an eclectic mix of various techniques, medium and style used by the women artisan .There were acrylic paintings, prints, pencil and charcoal drawings, photographs, tapestry and sculptures. The themes were varied .Works of many eminent city artists were on display; Sadhana, with her zesty birds and nature theme is always a visual delight, Heidi’s digitally touched photograph clicked at Naggar, of the lofty Himalayas had an awe aspiring appeal. Navpreet’s painting of women figure in dialogue with a cat had a haunting demeanour; holding interest here in this work is the crescent moon that peeps in through the window. Aradhana's painting have a mystic feel, in warm tones the female figure looms large, looking skyward holding the houses/town in an embrace, Sonal’s bedtime stories with its colors that conjure a fairy-tale world with snowflakes, Christmas trees and reindeer's moving into the frame, resounds with the tinkling bells of Santa’s sleigh. Daphy’s palette of bright colors take on a softer hue in her water color ‘Branded’. Hers is almost a trance like vision in this painting composed of a woman and a bird, made with repetitive patterns and motifs.

There is wide array of visuals that meet the viewer, whether its collography by Jaskanwal, Chinese ink and gouache by Manjot, charcoal by Kavita, pencil by Anukriti, wood cut by Manisha , etching by Rashmita ,aquatint by Nutan, intaglio by Payal and the list goes on. All these speak high of the mastery of technique and thought evoked.

Sculptures not to be outdone, women hold their sway in this medium in the exhibition. ‘Embrace’, wood sculpture by Gurmeet endowed with spatial quality depicts entwined forms, though used to her earlier colossal sculpture this has a diminutive bearing, though not in terms of quality of work .You are met me with rattling and clanking sounds as Shivani’s welded copper rider seemingly rides past you while Payal’s sculpture connects one to the serenity of nature filled with the sound of chirping of birds. Ritu’s painting on fabric; ‘You, me and we …are like a flowing river’ joyously flutters heralding the women artists coming of age.

Pimmi Khanna, who breathed her last at age of 81, was fondly remembered by the Chandigarh art fraternity, her paintings put on display.