Tina Chandroji has painted flower shops, bakeries, vegetable carts and homes to define Indian culture and our religious fixations
Flower shops, bakeries and vegetable carts, most things that you see in Tina Chandroji’s paintings are picked up from Indian streets. What’s striking about each painting is an image of God. To define India and its culture the artists has painted the picture of God in every space that she has presented on her canvas. “These paintings present a vivid picture of Indian culture. Every home and even shops in India are incomplete without a picture of God. What’s interesting is that one can see pictures of Gods from different religions in little shops,” says Tina, the Mumbai-based artist who is showcasing her works at Cityscapes at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre. The show is curated by Alka Pande who says that Tina ‘unpacks’ the supremacy of belief in God within the Indian tradition. The figures — Jesus, Ram-Sita and Buddha — occupy the central space within the frame of modern day décor. The coming together of religion and other mercantile goods draws the view closer to the multiplicity of Indian art. Born in Mumbai, she has witnessed the togetherness of cultures — urban and rural, centre and periphery.
Her ornately detailed works create an impact that only realism can. The work titled Antiques, for instance, is a delight to behold. Chandeliers and clocks, furniture and gramophone, artefacts and cabinets are so neatly arranged that every single element comes together to resemble a real shop. Or consider the work titled Vegetable Stall. Multi-coloured vegetables bunched together in artistic heaps, a transistor, photographs, hanging lamps, blue plastic bags hung on the wall — there is a photographic quality to each of her works. “As an Indian, you would have always seen shops like these. These are sights that I have grown up seeing in Mumbai and these are present all over India. Religion and business is extremely intertwined. If you observe, you will see that every shop in India has a picture of God, another tradition, which is so unique to our culture. It’s common knowledge that bakeries are usually run by Christians or Parsis, grocery shops by West Indians, vegetable and fruits by North Indian and perfumes by Muslims and each of these places have a special place for their Gods,” says Tina.
Born in a Gujarati joint family of jewellers, Tina recalls that it was a childhood passion to paint that took her to JJ School of Art in 2001. “My mother is a religious person and I inherited the same from her. I have always been inspired by our cultural upbringing. Whether one lives in metro, villages or anywhere in the universe, one is in constant touch with God. My paintings connect us to God. From roadside hawkers to offices of multinational companies, it is God who completes our spaces,” she says.
Tina worked as an art director for the first season of Kaun Banega Crorepati and went on to become the art director for Salman Khan starrer lucky-No Time For love. She also was a story board writer for Hindi and regional films. Tina explored the world of photography before she became a full-time artist. Her first solo show was at lalit Kala Akademi in 2012 followed by a critically acclaimed solo at Nehru Centre, london in 2013 and then at Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, in the same year. “As a painter you need to devote your entire time and attention to your art. I realised that it is painting that is passion and therefore turned into a full-time artist. It takes me four to five months to complete a painting, though I work on three paintings at a time,” she says. The show will continue till September 19.