“I love to see how a lotus, in spite of being surrounded by dirt and filth blooms into beauty,” is how Rita Jhunjhunwala describes her admiration for the national flower. The poise and serenity of the lotus flower can be seen in her paintings which were recently exhibited in the solo show, “Unsullied” at Alliance Francaise. “I am deeply attracted to the quality of a lotus. Just like we see it from the perspective of life, this is how one should live — unperturbed, unaffected yet making the best use of one’s latent inborn talent,” asserts the artist. For Jhunjhunwala, nature has always been a muse. This is evident from the landscapes of Banaras and Rajasthan she did for her earlier exhibitions.
The artist using different forms like charcoal, watercolour, acrylic, gold foil and rice paper has perfected the art of fusion of colours and use of different hues. The tone of her paintings at “Unsullied” was sombre and demure while the mood of each of the painting was adequately described by the label under it. Thus there were works named “Vivacious”, “Divine”, “Devotional”, “Exuberant”, “Rhapsody”, “Poise” and “Steadfast”. Though the artist loves using water colours, she believes that acrylic has more versatile effects. Having started painting at a very early age, she has experimented with different forms but acrylic is the closest to her heart.
The winner of the Soviet Land Nehru Award for painting the artist who is widely travelled finds art therapeutic.
“Art is a therapy for me. I paint because I want to. I feel happy doing it.” In fact, the urge to paint came to her from childhood itself when she used participate in on the spot painting competitions. She realised painting was her true calling. Like a true artist she is not complacent. “I still have miles to go. There is always a room for improvement even if when you compare your previous paintings with the present ones.”
Advising the young talent to know their grammar well and have a complete hold on the basics,
Jhunjhunwala believes that there is no substitute for hard work and consistency.
