The Hindu : New Delhi News : Fireworks in sky, colours on canvas

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Tuesday, Mar 10, 2009
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New Delhi

Fireworks in sky, colours on canvas

Madhur Tankha

An extraordinary show by Swiss artist of Indian origin

One of the paintings by Lekha, a Swiss artist of Indian origin, being exhibited now at India Habitat Centre.

NEW DELHI: A five-day solo painting show by a Swiss artist of Indian origin, Lekha, opened at Open Palm Court of India Habitat Centre here on Monday.

“Through the Mist” is Lekha’s first exhibition in India. Living and working in Geneva for the past several years, Lekha has been exhibiting her works there regularly since 1992.

Her style

Lekha’s style in her earlier works was mainly impressionist, focusing on Swiss landscapes and portraits. She shifted her focus later to abstract works and now practises a mixed technique using sharp-edged flat cards to paint with acrylic rather than the conventional brush.

“My works being showcased in this exhibition here now are an expression of feeling, of being wonderstruck by life, regardless of whether the events are happy or unhappy. They create harmony between abstraction and representation, and between turmoil and the order that comes from disciplining divergent strands into an integrated whole. As an artist I leave it to the viewer to develop his or her own perspective and be intrigued by the form, colour and composition of these works,” says Lekha.

According to art critic Keshav Malik, there is a kind of badly needed peace in Lekha’s paintings. “If many of the works exude charm, still others delight us with their dexterously worked out blend of colour tones, those nuances of the mystery or chemistry of effulgent light, or of light and shade.”

Born in India, Lekha’s now lives in Geneva with her family. Her childhood was spent in the lush forests of Assam. She later moved to the more arid valleys of Punjab and studied fine arts in Chandigarh. After devoting herself to raising her children, Lekha returned to painting in 1990 when she resumed studying at the Mirgros School of Art in Geneva.

Professor Pabel Korbel, who headed the arts department at that school, wrote of her works: “Lekha brings out the fullness of tradition, culture and colour of her country which come together in her paintings, leaping out as if blazing trails of colour like fireworks in the sky.”

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