17 Women : 17 Feminine Perspectives - a group show Saptadasha Shree Dal opens at Gufa

From doodles of motherhood to Rumi’s poems visualised, from pop culture to folk art, an eclectic exhibition brings together 17 women artists from across the country at the Gufa.

When you hear of an art showcase by 17 women, you start wondering what you might see – what emotions, what images, what aspirations will be portrayed – from that vast spectrum of womanhood. Saptandash Shree Dal doesn’t disappoint. Showing works of 4 local artists and 13 women from around the country, this exhibit covers a vast range of art influences. From water color on paper to oil and mixed media on paper, the paintings convey a myriad emotions, all seen from a feminine perspective.

Renowned artist Jayasri Burman has a fine piece here which, from afar, looks like an impressive artwork from the Byzantine era, but on closer inspection reveals pen strokes defining womanhood. There are a lot of Frida Kahlo references in the paintings of Surashree Rabadia and Pritam Bhatty. Indian perspectives to womanhood are inter-mixed with international influences – like the pop culture colors seen in Bhairavi Modi’s wide canvas, and the doodle details in Maya Burman’s portrayal of motherhood – making for a fascinating visual journey.

Minal Shah’s ‘Rumi and Mi’ is a beautiful transfer of medium. Shah has pulled out her visualizations of Rumi’s poems and put them into very contemporary, yet Art Decoesque, oil paintings. Radhika Kacha has employed her favorite medium and somber colors to depict not only clouds and depths of nature but also their deeply emotive portrayal of inner turbulence. She has taken panoramas from the sky – the sky that we see every day, yet never really notice – and turned them into gigantic artworks to make us see them in a new light. These paintings appear different every time you see them, triggering a different emotion every time you reflect on them.

Preetha Kanan’s oilscape is of a stunning frozen river in a snowy forest. The sheer size of it may seem intimidating, but the landscape is so alluring that it may well be a collector’s piece in any art collection. The closer you look, the more details you see, till you realize that the entire landscape has been done in pointillism.

Other artworks on display are Shikha Chavda’s intricate floral carving on a steel plate, Manisha Doshi’s minute observations in Illuminate, a vivid portrait done in oil by Kahini Arte Merchant, a rendition of Rajasthani folk painting in oil by Anu Naik, a mixed media artwork by Anjana Mehra, and oil on paper paintings by Naina Kanodia, Aparna Kaur and Rini Dhumal.

The first day saw a number of art enthusiasts, critiques and media persons in the crowd, along with the four local artists, all of whom were available for a one on one interactions. Saptandash Shree Dal is on display in the art Gallery at Amdavad ni Gufa from 17th to 22nd January 2017. Curated by Ekaant Artists Residency and Gallery Beyond, the show is a distinctive display of paintings and sculptures from a personal collection in Mumbai.

Photographs: Trusha Trivedi