Ludhiana, January 20
Probably it would be hard to believe that lowly things like empty plastic bottles, sawdust, straw and semolina could be used tastefully in creating beautiful paintings. But that is what Ms Kanika Dhanda and Ms Shewta Tripathi along with their students have achieved. They have used these and other commonly-used things to give extraordinary effects.
Both have displayed a host of paintings and objects made of fibre glass. As one entered, one was stopped by the huge Tanjore paintings of Goddess Lakshmi, Ganesh and Balaji. In these paintings the artists have taken care to execute minutest details. Use of pure gold foil has enhanced the beauty.
The subjects of the paintings are admixture of traditional and modern. The use of canvas, velvet, fibre glass, milky glass, ceramics and texture glass as the base created astounding effects. They used ‘zari’ borders around the finished paintings to embellish the effects. With plaster of paris and crumpled common tissue paper the artists have created unique effect. The beautifully painted fibre glass was used to make rotating tables with wrought iron that could be used as telephone table or pedestal. The fibre glass low stools, centre table appeared very alluring.
The students have made use of calligraphy and framed it. Similarly, coffee powder mixed with water was applied to give some paintings a rich brown colour. Mirrors were used to further beautify the paintings. The girls have made use of texture glass and painted figures from Ajanta and Ellora in a fetching manner. A beautiful table lamp was created by using a ceramic bell and wrought iron. The result was dramatic. They have even taken the readymade posters and changed them completely by decorating the posters and drawing beautiful borders around the posters.
The exhibition is on for another two days at a shop near Fountain Chowk.
