BEYOND MITHILA - Exploring the Decorative ( October - November 2008 )
Paintings and Textile Embroideries

by
SHELLY JYOTI

" The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past" wrote William Faulkner.

This is certainly true of India today, where we happily marry the traditions of our glorious past with the contemporary culture of today.
We see it in the garba and bhangra even now being danced, but to disco beats. In fashion, we see that saris and ghagras are not abandoned but combined with noodle straps and corset cholis. On the other hand, elaborate mirror work backless blouses are worn with jeans. In music we still have the sitar, table and santoor, now played with electronic instruments. Our mythological and religious stories are adapted to TV and film viewers. Religious celebrations like Eid, Holi, Ganpati and Diwali are done d with even more enthusiasm but in a modern way

In the visual arts it is even stronger. The old traditional forms reincarnated in the new contemporary avatar .Several eminent artists like M.F.Husain , Nilima Sheikh , Arpana Caur and Jayasri Burman draw from the traditional art forms, mythological imagery and folk motifs to create them in a new media and genre .

Shelly Jyoti is certainly one of these artists. Exploring the decorative elements of the age-old Mithila art form and translating it into a modern idiom.

Mithila or Madhubani art is practiced in Bihar and was done exclusively by women, as it needed exactitude and patience. It is centred on mythological, folk and tantric themes. Mithila art is filled with symbols of fertility and prosperity like the fish, elephant, sun, moon, bamboo plant and lotus .The colours are extracted from vegetable pigments and are bright and cheerful - green from leaves, yellow from turmeric, red and pink from beetroots and orange from marigolds.

Shelly is particularly attracted to the vivid colours and strong line work in Mithila art.

While aspects of Mithila tradition is drawn upon in this decorative series, Shelly’s paintings have been reinvented and augmented in a way to create works that are exuberant, intricate, well put together and very exemplary of 21st century India.

Shelly has not only taken elements of Mithila paintings, she has also taken inspiration from diverse decorative traditions of India and beyond. These include "zardosi" from Persia brought by the Moguls, "kantha" from Bengal, and different Chinese embroideries. All of this is creatively resurrected and fused by Shelly who is guided by form, agnostic of source, forging her own brand of heterogeneous and ornamental paintings that are truly beautiful in the classic sense of the word.

For Shelly, “Beyond Mithila - Exploring the decorative " is all about a spiritual experience in the 21st century of the art that belonged to the 7th century.

Come, see this exquisite collection.

Show opens Friday 3rd October 08, 6.30 pm onwards.

Continues till 3rd November 08


Gallery hours: 11 am to 7 pm [except Sundays ]

JAMAAT

National House, Tulloch Road,
Apollo Bunder, Mumbai 400 039.
Ph: 2282 0718; Telefax: 2282 2145

E-mail: pravina@jamaatart.com
jamaatart@gmail.com

Website: www.jamaatart.com