DIGITAL COPY ON MAGZTERT
here are three things in common
between Seema Kohli and Arpana
Caur. ‘We’re very Delhi, very
Punjabi, and are women’, announces
Arpana Caur. However, she adds, ‘I feel that
our approaches in art differ. Seema’s works
are positive, colourful and exuberant. They
adorn airports and many homes. Mine
have a dark edge and tensions as I believe
in dualities like life and death, day and
night, joy and sorrow, and these form part
of my themes as well.’ Her themes are not
just spiritual but a lot of her series, she says,
deals with harsh realities. ‘For instance, I
painted the 1984 Sikh genocide in “WorldGoes On” as it was cathartic for me. So
too in “Widows of Vrindaban” in 1987.’
Seema, who has been following Arpana’s
work throughout her artistic career, says
that certain of Arpana’s contexts resonated
in her inner search. ‘Sufi and Sikh thought
which she had worked upon interested me.’
Arpana and Seema treat space differently
on the canvas. While Seema likes extensive
detail and each inch is full of these, Arpana
likes large fields of colour. ‘I’m in love
with “negative” space which, for me, is
positive. In our approaches to colour, I
like the black background in a lot of my
works as I feel the colour used againstArpana Caur and Seema kohli
love Shot, Arpana Caur,
Oil on Canvas, 33'' x 96'', 2015
Image Courtesy of
Gallerie Nvya and the Artist(^48) / arts illustrated / feb 2016 - mar 2016 /IAF - Delhi Connecting Art