The Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy has started a new initiative, PARIKARMA, a Short Art Residency programme at Open Hand Art Studio at Le Corbusier Centre located in Sector- 19. Four eminent Delhi based artists, Mr Prem Singh, Mrs Shobha Broota, Mr Moti Zharotia and Mr Kalicharan Gupta are part of this residency started on 12th September and ending on 15th September. Each day after the day’s artwork is done, these artists give an audio visual presentation about their work followed by an interactive session
Moti Zharotia
The Dream Weaver
Moti Zharotia weaves dreams through the technique of silk
screen printing and has been using this technique for the last 35 years.
On 14th September, 2019, the artist showed a
slide show of his silk screen prints. The
slides were divided into two different time phases of his life; before 2000 and
after 2000.
Before 2000 prints
were a visual delight. They took you on a flight into a different realm, an
ethereal world of lyrical colours; the pretty lavenders, the hazy pinks, the
dreamy whites, gleaming yellows and the powder blues with flying figures that
surge through the mysterious clouds that drift effortlessly. The female figures
seem to be frolicking, spreading a fairy rainbow or at times a ray of light
that gleams through. The same play continues underwater, are they now mermaids
or human enchantress .The butterflies and the figures flutter forth from the
artists mind. In a mundane and dreary world the artist takes fancy in this
dream world he has created. The male figure joins at times in the magical
journey. Each print of this period seem to defy gravity in term of movement and
emotion.
After 2000; the prints do jolt you from your reverie. They
reflect a period where the artist becomes grounded, realising the futility of
the dream. The colour palette changes, no more of the soft colours, they are
now replaced with earthen colours. The figures are in embrace caught up by
daily trivialities of life, caught with their legs entangled or are they tied. Their profiles facing opposing directions. Their
flight a thing of the past. The playfulness now reminiscent only in the pattern
that repeats itself. The shades of brown tone down the effervescence of the
earlier works. The blues do come, to add “the blues” in the overall mood of the
prints. The cat also sneaks in a few prints, it’s back arched in a defiant pose.
The form and gradation is there in the works, but the former exuberance, the
artist sheepishly admits, due to his hectic work schedule does get grounded.
We do hope life’s journey does spare him some time to revel
in his world of fantasy and allows the release of his other worldly prints.
well written!!
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