This Valentine’s Day, Ketaki Arts featured an elegant tree made up of pink and red hearts, with a black-blue trunk and two little red birds on a swing suspended from the branch. The painting reflects a style that features distinct elements of Gond art, through the dots and dashes that make up the little hearts, the smooth curves of the branch that is painted without borders and the composition of the birds, but is not completely a Gond painting.
“That’s my style, it’s a twist on folk art,” says Ketaki Ankalikar, of Ketaki arts, the founder of a solo start-up that offers paintings and home decor items featuring a modern take on Indian folk art. Ketaki’s paintings are more vibrant with bright colours, contrasting against the earthy tones of traditional folk art. Her lines and compositions are more refined and much finer. “I have been a self-taught artist since childhood, taking after my mother. I was working with social media marketing when I felt that a nine to five job was not my cup of tea. So I quit my job and it was during my sabbatical that my family and my friends encouraged me to become a full-time artist. And so two years ago, I opened my Facebook page and I have been getting a good response,” she explains.
Ketaki has so far taken part in two consecutive Chitra Santhe Art Fairs organised by the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath. “The festival gave me good exposure. I made a lot of contacts and started working from home, designing logos and working on commissioned paintings, anything that features folk art.”
Her interest in the Indian folk art forms started when she was pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Doha, where her family was stationed for years. “We used to have long vacations during which I would paint, art was my hobby. I started exploring folk art through the internet as I did not find any courses or teachers for folk art. I began with Kalamkari and then ventured into the other forms.”
She studied the pictorial elements and the various forms of each element in folk art forms. In the meanwhile, she took part in a workshop being conducted by Prakash Joshi, an award-winning Phad artist. She is now proficient with five folk art forms — Kalamkari, Phad, Madhubani, Gond and Worli. “Once you know the different forms, the four types of a Kalamkari leaf, for instance, you can then experiment to create your style. When you know the rules, you can break them while still maintaining their essence of the original.”
“Traditional art is wonderful but one has to build a taste for it, I’m not sure how many people in this generation might want to do that. Besides, there are hundreds of folk artists who are so much more proficient than me. That’s why I wanted to create a unique style.” She has begun working on a home decor line. “I now make wall art, printed trays and coasters. My dream to is have a solo exhibition in Manhattan and to produce an original home decor line.”
