A woman is bent in Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend), trying to place her head on her knee. Her back is an exaggerated curve that yoga teachers wouldn’t approve of. But within that rounded back, artist Koeli Mukherjee Ghosh encompasses trajectories of urban women and the multiple tasks they execute each day, rising above the incessant gaze. The yoga series and her other paintings depict co-existence of animals, birds and humans.
In ‘Gossamer Feat’, on display at Kalaachakra, Koeli marries watercolours with swift and strong lines worked with a bamboo quill or khaager kalam , a technique she has practised and perfected over years. The lines are intertwined like in a net or lace to create forms and space within them. “These gossamer like nets trap our thoughts,” says Koeli.
Archival paper, hot pressed and containing within it cotton and rag, absorbs a medley of colours. “When the paint is blown on the surface, it is full bodied and takes certain form. I try to see shapes within them like we spot shapes in a cloud,” she says.
Koeli frequently intersperses her art shows with sessions in which viewers partake in painting. Through these sessions, she pushes her limits and challenges herself to work in an interactive process. “In these sessions I don’t really look to sell what I paint. It’s an artist-viewer engagement that I enjoy,” she says.
The live art sessions, Koeli observes, improves her drawing skills: “I am amazed at the vibrancy of subconscious thoughts that are translated to the surface. It’s fun to meet myself on another surface.”
A painting by Koeli Mukherjee Ghose
With her roots in Bengal school of art, she merges traditional and contemporary styles. She knows she has to reinvent while she toys with elements of space, texture and composition. The distortion in Koeli’s ‘abstract figuration’ method is celebratory than angst ridden. She could have, for instance, given in to a brooding note on women having to multi task at home and work to prove their efficacy. Instead, she celebrates the power of women to be able to do so. “There are many things we may or may not talk about,” she reasons.
The yoga painting includes a playful note of a pet partaking in the session. It stems from personal experience. Koeli has had her pet dog or cat trying to imitate her asana postures and occasionally, even nudging her out of the way and occupying her yoga mat.
Koeli’s art is not always pre-meditated. It develops organically and leads her to a finishing point. “The art begins to speak to you; it can reflect you, your friends or society,” she says. There are instances where she completely comprehends an art work after months of completing it. Two of her paintings here are accompanied by poems she penned later.
Gossamer Feat is on view at Kalaachakra, Road no.10, Jubilee Hills, till June 4. Koeli will host an interactive session with viewers on June 3; 12 noon to 6 pm.
