Page 5 - Anjolie Ela Menon - Inner Vision

FOREW0RD

VICKRAM SETHI
CHAIRMAN

The art of Anjolie Ela Menon
bears witness to one of the
most creative minds of the
post-Independence era. So
expansive is her imagina-
tion that she managed to
redefine art on her own
terms and in her own
language, creating a
unique visual vocabulary
that eludes easy translation or categorisation. Her
output may be counted among the most inventive
and diverse of her era, not only in style but also in
selection of the medium. Few artists from her
generation have used such a vast variety of mate-
rials, from oil painting to glass sculpture to lithogra-
phy to found objects, assemblage, digital paintings,
jewellery, jharokhas and kitsch.

Behind the inventive and exuberant paintings of
what at first sight appears to be a random, unruly,
and even eccentric style of work, lies the genius of
Anjolie Ela Menon. Her perspicacity, her reclusive-
ness, her unquiet mind, her ever-vigilant discrimi-
nating gaze make her one of the most celebrated
artists of India. For her, the creative process is a
ritual act - an act which presupposes both order

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