Artist Deepti Gupta spoke to GANITA about Navarasas and their influence in her artwork
When you first look at her paintings, you will find a lot of vibrant colours spilled here and there on the canvas. But when you closely look at the artworks, you will find figures and forms juxtaposed with and overlaid on them. Sometimes the form is camouflaged in the colours and sometimes it is clearly visible. These figures may be mythological figures, animals or birds. Deepti Gupta derives inspiration from both the animate and inanimate world surrounding her. She works with acrylic on either canvas or acrylic sheets. “My paintings are on nature. My forms are simple with my strong graphical sensibilities. I feel my forms create dancing shapes where the enjoyment in the work process could be felt. My work is not religious but just a mere representation of the world around me,” said the artist. Her paintings are exhibited at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. This is her first solo show, intended to connect with the world.
There are a lot of cows in her paintings. Asked about this, she said, “I see cows everyday. In my family the first chapati is made for the cow. Knowing and unknowingly, cows have been a part of my life since my childhood. That is why I wanted to depict them in a happy mode with vibrant colours. Sometimes they are loud and subtle at the same time.” She went forward, “The innocence in animals and birds has always attracted me to paint them with a joyful and progressive outlook. May be that is why my colour palette is so vibrant and energetic.” She has done a series of nine paintings on love, laughter, fury, compassion, disgust, horror, heroic mood and wonder. Most of the paintings have been sold. Three of them were there in the exhibition.
We spotted figures of Radha, Buddha andMahisasur. “I have painted Radha in the series of Navrasa. Her love for Krishna was so eternal that she did not care about anything except Him. Even though they both were married to different people, she used to go and meet Krishna. He was always there in her thoughts. That is what pushed me to paint her. MyRadha is all lonely, where either she is finding solace in the company of her cow or just waiting for the biggest herder Krishna,” said the artist. The nine rasas are embedded in the mood of most of her paintings. She has a lengthy process of construction and experiment. She wants the colour to be speaking louder than the forms in conveying moods and expressions. She has done a 47*79 inch painting ofGanesha on a truck with an emphasis on gay colours, representative of the festive mood.
Asked about her guru, she said, “I was guided and mentored by Swapan Bhandari, a senior artist, whom I coincidentally met while working as a lecturer at one of the private universities of Noida." She also places masters of colour, Matisse and Hockney, among her influence. “For me, every composition is a celebration,” she ended.