“In the monsoons, after days of continuous rain, when the sun suddenly comes out, one feels uplifted. In a dull atmosphere something bright and cheerful looks nice,” says Illoosh Judge Ahluwalia, who does just that, gives joie de vivre to the viewer and to the surroundings, through her art. The Delhi-based artist's colour laden works can be seen in the exhibition, ‘Walking on Sunshine', which is happening after a gap of four years.
Except for three, each canvas in the collection is worked upon with palette knife dipped in oil colours. She plays with light using a combination of bright and dull colours but yellow clearly has a dominating presence. Illoosh explains her preference for the colour because she loves sunflower and finds the first rays of the morning sun to be an absolute bliss. “We live in a country where we have lots of sunshine, but most of the time we say that there is so much heat because of that. I wanted to depict the value of sunshine. We should appreciate it and not say that it's a bad thing. Sunshine is like a life giving force. Rains are lovely but I feel that the sunshine gives out a nice feeling. It just makes me feel very happy,” adds the artist whose flower pots are reminiscent of the legendary Van Gogh's style but here she tries to create a feeling of movement.
The refined strokes work towards creating a fine texture on Iloosh's canvases. “I first used knife about 15 years ago and then I found it to be much more fun. You don't have to have a brush. One can paint every single detail with a knife. You can literally play with colours,” says the artist. Making a debut with Iloosh is her daughter Malika Ahluwalia, who is showcasing a set of 12 paintings with three done in pastels. Like her mother, she too has an affinity for the palette knife and has used it in a few of her works. “The beauty of painting with a knife is that the texture comes out,” feels Malika.
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Illoosh, known for her “Soni Kudi” series, was suffering from glaucoma. She was advised not to paint due to the critical condition of her eyes. “I stopped doing ‘Soni Kudi'in 2005. However, I have put two of them here, which I painted after my surgery because I liked the idea to prove it to myself and everyone that I can still paint like I used to,” says Illoosh.
(The exhibition is on at Arpana Fine Arts Gallery, Siri Fort Institutional Area, till August 24)