Trupti Dave pays homage to Lord Ganesh with her recent exhibition “Vighnaharta”

‘Vighnaharta’ exhibited 32 paintings by artist Trupti Dave showcasing different forms of Lord Ganesh. Check out the brief description of her paintings and the artist’s muse.

On the Shukla Paksha cycle (waxing moon) of the Bhadrapada month, we welcome Lord Ganesh into our houses—a guest whom we accept with all our hearts. We embrace the ‘Vighnaharta- Slayer of Bad Omens’ and we express our devotion for him by celebrating through the ten-day period and indulging in mouth-watering delicacies.

Trupti Dave expressed her devotion for Lord Ganesh through art in her latest exhibition, “Vighnaharta”, celebrating the various forms of Ganesh and paying a personal homage to the Lord on this auspicious occasion. The exhibition was held on 31^st August and 1^st September and it was curated by Invent Art, an initiative to build an integrated platform for conventional as well as modern art. They facilitate upcoming artists, new media art and heritage-related activities to get the spotlight.

The Kanoria Gallery of Arts was illuminated with 32 vibrant paintings that showcased various faces of Lord Ganesh. From the innocent and adolescent form of “Tarun” to the long-eared all-listening “Lambkarna”, each painting was embellished with a unique set of colours that justified the essence of each form’s personality.

As it is believed in the Hindu tradition, that one must worship the Gajanand before commencing any endeavour, Trupti Dave starts her artistic venture every day by making a painting of Ganesh. An artist’s twist to the morning poojas, if you may say. She has accumulated more than 2000 paintings of Ganesh by doing so.For her, painting Ganesh is a meditative process and these paintings came about spontaneously, without any pre-conceived ideas or plans.

On discussing the exhibited paintings with her, I learnt about her purpose behind this exhibition and what she wanted to convey through these paintings.

While painting “Tarun”, she shares, she wanted to incorporate the inquisitiveness of an adolescent boy who was exploring the universe and she achieved that beautifully with the calm and composed colour tones and the perusing eyes showcased in the painting.

The juxtaposed colours of “Anangapujita – the Formless God” creates a mist of the god that can easily be perceived as Ganesh while the subtle and minimalist colour tones of “Sumukha – Very Graceful God” suggest the elegance of the god.

The powerful and bold use of purple and blue in “Kuberganesh – Source of Material Pleasure” creates a sense of nobility, luxury and ambition in the mind of its viewer.

She seemed to have used all the colours in her arsenal to create these beautiful paintings, each befitting its title.

When I asked her which painting was her favourite, she could not pick one because all the forms and aspects of these paintings created the Ganesh for her. “They are all just a fragment of His definition” she said, perhaps something larger that he stands for.