The surreal life

Manpriya Singh

A free spirit and a heart filled is what it takes to express creativity. Art as much as where it comes from, imagination or inspiration, ought to be unrestricted. Kuldip Rihal, from Southfields Gallery, London, hopes to be able to contribute his part, with an endeavour aimed at not just exchanging art but promoting artists. “I hope to be able to take Indian contemporary art works to London and exhibit and promote Indian art there,” he shares, while bringing to Chandigarh, a four-day international European and African art exhibition. The showcase involves 56 works of visual art created by contemporary European and African artists. “There will be works by as many as 13 artists,” adds the gallerist who’s been curating for over 6 years now.

“I’m into textured sea scapes and I will be exhibiting nine of my works,” shares one of the exhibitor Rosie Casselldon, a London- based artist, while pointing to a painting with a human body diving deep into the water surface. “To me art is a challenge. If I look at a cloud formation, I want to recreate it. It is a battle between what’s in your mind and what you actually create on the paper. They have to be exact same things,” adds the artist, who will be also be taking a two- day workshop. “I will be conducting a practical and interactive demonstration of the style of painting that I follow.”

Dreams & more

Then there’s what we’ve always known art to be, one of the strongest medium of expressions. Larisa Connor took to the brush ten years ago, in an attempt to recover from the loss of her mother-in-law. “I specialise in surrealism and abstract. For me an element is important, it could be a flower, child, woman…Most of my art, I see in my dreams. It is very personal,” she shares while bringing nine of her works here. She adds, “I started painting when I lost my mother- in- law, out of grief. It’s been a beautiful journey so far. Before being an artist I was a financial advisor.” It’s been an absolute switch but worth the effort.

Children’s workshop

The exhibit puts together paintings, sculptures, and ceramics and also brings along the chance of a close brush with art. Coming up are workshops for children and adults.

Instead of the art works Voilet has brought in her raw materials. “I work with Polymer clay and have studied technical arts, which involves the like of making props and models for television,” shares the graduate from University of Arts, London, who’s all set to conduct a one- day children’s workshop coming Saturday. She adds, “To me art is a means of making of making other people happy. It doesn’t have to be personal. Most of the time what I make has been for commercial purposes.”

manpriya@tribunemail.com

The exhibition is on till January 24 at Punjab Kala Bhawan—16, Chandigarh. The workshop is on Thursday and Friday, while the children’s workshop is on Saturday.