Page 7 - Anjolie Ela Menon - Inner Vision

and discipline. Anjolie is an artist who has details. The painting has rich colours and depth window frames within which she creates a and showed them at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.
succeeded in preserving the authentic experience especially on the skin of faces and bodies. painting with small blocks. These fit into each
of her youth. Like a child she indulges in play, window but together look like a painting itself. She While working on her book, Anjolie saw images of
however almost making fun of her existential Not only does the painting truthfully represent the uses her painterly skills to create an undulated her own work on the computer and one after
anxieties. Passionate and audacious, she casual and rustic image of the common folk but vision, in such a way that the paintings and another, the images came alive. From here, Anjolie
recreates—in her own space and on her own also conveys that modern Western culture has jharokhas are in a perfect balance. The paintings got the idea of creating digital works -
terms—the lost world of childhood. Like a true become a part of Indian life. in the jharokhas are intimate domestic scenes and Pentimentos - where she juxtaposed images and
Bohemian, she paints with her whole soul, interior composition with women behind torn created a series of new works, which she partly
mobilising the full power of her imagination. She She focuses on the traditional aspects of formal curtains with partly exposed breasts, a child, a painted.
penetrates the secret recesses of memory where portraiture and even moreso on the development parrot, a goat, a crow, a kite and various other
the experiences and traditions of childhood await of her technique. Women in domestic, ill-defined objects that compose an ordinary household. Not
the alchemical process that will bring them to the settings, shown doing mundane jobs, the working only does the jharokha painting truthfully Glass Sculpture

surface of her work, at the chosen moment, as a class, crochet table cloths, torn curtains, goats represent the casual and rustic images of the Working with master craftsmen in Murano (Italy),
fresh reality. Memories are never lost: they simply and the omnipresent crow in different settings Indian masses, but also conveys Anjolie's Anjolie created a range of chic glass sculptures
lie dormant ready to be put to use, when required, have become recurring subjects. There is a blend fondness for depicting common people in her that had religious icons, Shivlings, Ganeshas,
and to enter into the creative moment. of spontaneity and intimacy in her portraiture that works. She says the jharokhas must have life and Islamic calligraphy, Christian icons and a range of
make the works engaging. vitality in them. It must have certain pathos and bowls with Hindu scripture. The exhibition was
Anjolie’s break with the canvas is not a deliberate warmth. The physical scale echoes the emotional called Sacred Prism.
attempt to reject art, but, as with every Sometimes, the women’s eyes are deviating from variety through bold compositions, appearances
revolutionary advance, a rebellion against the the audience staring at the ground, showing her and a manifestation of Anjolie's unnerving artistic Anjolie was the first Indian artist of her generation
aesthetic status quo. Anjolie does not repudiate nervous, shy and self-protected mentality. Apart supremacy. The artist focuses most of her to work in the Kitsch genre. She wanted to bring
tradition, she simply cuts through it. Tradition for from the deception of the figure’s characters, it attention on painting the eyes as she aspires for calendar art into the mainstream and she created
her is a storehouse of material waiting to be used, may be an implicit representation of her poverty. the audience to experience a silent an exhibition where she used gold embossed
but the manner in which it will be used will be Despite that there is a sense of calmness and ease communication with her subjects. The gaze that printing which she cut out from her Diwali cards.
different. in her eyes. More than just being splendid in the occurs between the audience and the portraits The exhibition was called Gods and Others and
comparison of colours, brush strokes, figures and conjures a vagueness whether the audience is the was created in the Raja Ravi Varma style. She
Anjolie’s portraiture of women is unique and clothing, Anjolie touches the spirits of the figures viewer or the ones being viewed. decorated her subjects with kitsch elements and
striking. She is truly a painter of women, and transfers the abstract emotions to also used gold paint and foil.
alternately gracious and moving, knowing and coordinating concrete elements and rediscovers After her husband retired, they settled down in
simple, and always with an exquisite visual the invaluable worth of humanity and life. Delhi in Nizammudin and she set up her studio in The art world is not for the faint hearted. Anjolie
sensibility. Not only does she give a marvellous the Nizammudin Basti. The imagery of the Basti proved she could excel with decency and the rare
sense of the physique, the delicate relief and Anjolie’s nudes are warmer in palette and keeps coming into her work. Goats, old men, parrot quality of unshakable integrity. She has had the
dazzling tones of young complexities, she also treatment. Atmosphere and form are realised sellers, the derelict surroundings and the people of attention of top collectors and gained their
gives a sense of the soul, all women’s inner through a softening of lines and tonal modelling, Basti become her subjects. confidence by being a consummate professional.
musicality and bewitching mystery. Her figures are ultimately creating an image of the female body She is strong but never forceful and has stood her
not frozen over by layers of paint - they are that is naturalistic, graceful and sensuous. Once Anjolie has worked in a wide variety of mediums ground and created art that very few artists from
animated and vivacious; singing out in a melody of she achieves this, she deliberately downplays the starting with jewellery. In the style and manner of her generation have ventured into. She is an
colours, bright tones and all the vibrations of light. sensuousness by covering up the breast with a miniature painters, Anjolie creates small miniature impeccable perfectionist as well as a modest and
thin muslin dupatta and adding other elements portraits of 1 inch x 1 inch of women that she uses forgiving friend. The Warhol-ian red lipstick and
Anjolie’s brush works like the scalpel of a surgeon, such as tables, chairs, kites, crows, goats etc. as pendants with precious and semi-precious the ever present twinkle in her eyes is as
gently crafting the ideal face she imagines. The stones, painted in deep colours with gold. These irresistible as her quick and generous smile. She is
resulting image is one that conforms in the Anjolie also created a significant amount of pendants are unique to Anjolie and no other artist an amazing cook, and sometimes I tease her about
extreme to the beauty standards of Indian women. landscapes. Her husband who was in the Navy of her generation has ventured into this kind of whether she is a better cook or better painter. She
She has elongated yet slim arms, a slender waist was transferred to various naval bases all over creativity. is also an amazing packer, having moved house
with voluptuous breasts. Her facial features are India. They lived by the sea and often the table, over 30 times during her husband’s Navy tenure.
familiar but somehow cannot be placed in context. chairs and fabrics that were left out to dry, kites in While in Chennai, Anjolie was very keen to start Above all she is a great human being, someone
She is portrayed in a highly provocative and the distant horizons and crows on the table, painting. Unfortunately she did not find any one can go to for advice on the most difficult of
appealing manner with captivating eyes, sensual created a landscape by the sea which she canvas or board and a friend suggested that she situations. I have known Anjolie for over five
lips and porcelain skin that are rendered with reproduced. It was from here that her fascination paint a cupboard, which she did and a new genre decades and she has truly been an amazing
considerable realism and artifice. for chairs began and empty chairs kept coming was born. So fascinated was Anjolie with the result person. Our friendship has been pure, lasting and
back into her paintings. of the paint on the cupboard that she went to the true.
Through her adept and natural brush strokes, we second hand furniture market and picked up all
can see Anjolie’s accurate portrayal of the figure’s Anjolie’s jharokhas are a unique combination of kinds of tables, chairs, cupboards and other
characteristics without excess description of paintings and found objects. She uses carved old objects. She painted about fifty of these objects

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