Imagination on canvas

Pune based Suhasini Kirloskar, a marketing consultant turned artist is exhibiting her art in Goa for the first time. Her love for abstract art has helped her draw her imagination on the canvas.

Suhasini has always appreciated art, however the realisation of her passion for art came a little later, when her sons were old enough to leave home for education and later work. To help her cope with the vacuum of the 'empty nest' she began painting and thus found her art.

Suhashini Kirloskar speaks about her new venture in Goa in this interview...

Q. What do you feel about exhibiting your artwork in Goa for the first time?
Indeed this is very exciting. Goa has a unique aesthetic and beauty-natural, architectural and spiritual, and will be a unique setting for my art to be displayed in. It's going to be very interesting to see how this setting responds to my work. And of course, the viewers are the most important. I'm excited and a little nervous, will they like the work? I have not organised this all by myself. The folks at Carpe Diem and my friend Rahul Chandawarkar have helped me a lot to organise it.

Q. Goa is a state that values art and culture. Comment?
I think it's just such an inspiring setting. Moreover with the tourists that Goa attracts, from all over the world, there's potential for art appreciation and crosspollination of ideas. I know that there are now art festivals that happen in Goa every year, so i belive the art scenes are getting stronger and stronger.

Q. What made you realise that you can be a great artist besides being a marketing consultant?
I opine that everyone can be a great artist! Actually, jokes apart, I'm not sure I'm great. However, I think can express freely, I have visions of art, and I can create something What I create could be meaningful, and to some people, beautiful. It can evoke emotions in viewers and they can connect with the work and with me. Once I realised these things, I could create freely and joyfully.

Q. Tell us about your journey as an artist.
As a student, I was more inclined towards art appreciation than painting. So it started by looking at books about the masters, and then, when I travelled to Europe, as a teenager, it was a feeling of complete awe and wonder, to see the great museums and art collections.

I grew up in South Mumbai, so walking through Jehangir Art Gallery or seeing special shows at the NCPA (National Centre for the Performing Arts) or Taj was a regular feature. We would run into M F Husain while walking on the streets, and there were wonderful shows happening all the time, both by Indian and International artists. I connected with art at a very emotional level. Then, when my children were young, I took up collages. This was a very satisfying and enjoyable form of creation. The kids would be reading, or building their airplanes, and I would be sitting in the midst of a huge mess of paper. Some of my work from that time still gives me great happiness.

Painting actually 'happened' to me very late in life! I got a very strong urge to put my visions on canvas. And that's how I started painting, about ten years ago. But in these 10 years, I have spent long hours, sometimes day, and full weekends, on painting I will be splattered with paint, practically submerged in paint, for two days at a stretch.

Q. You like to bring out your imagination on the canvas through abstract than realism. Why?
I usually never aspire for realism. I just find it boring. I try to capture imagination and dreams. I paint landscapes, but with the feeling that 'maybe there could be a world like this'. I also find the entire process of creating representational art non-spontaneous; an attempt to capture physical features onto canvas and for me, this process is extremely laboured. Not having studied art formally, it doesn't come easily or naturally to me. So when I paint, I express freely, spontaneously. I have something in mind, but then the painting seems to have a 'mind' of its own, and takes its own course. I keep working until the work is satisfying, often changing course completely. There is a certain magic in the process of creation. You see your own feelings reflected in the work in subtle ways, which is not the result of any planning. After that, it's a matter of what the viewer can see in the painting. Again, there is a magic in what the painting 'evokes', rather than shows. I believe that viewers respond to my paintings at that level.

Q. In your opinion, is abstract art an artist's style or identity?
As an artist, I don't think about either style or identity, as that would limit creative expression. I just paint. When it comes to putting together a show, I see whether the paintings, as a group, are conveying something. Maybe, sometime in the future, some of my work would be recognised as my unique 'style'. Currently, I'm open to experimenting, so not trying to stick to one style.

Q. Any new ventures in the pipeline?
I dream about painting art that are meditative. Also spiritual themes that rise above the religious imagery that is so dominant today. I struggle with these visions and ideas, and start working to put some of them on canvas. As they take shape, they will become future works.