Anjali – Art Exhibition

Anjali and her art teacher Niveditha Indrajit (http://theyellowbanyan.wix.com/theyellowbanyan) created a body of work in the past six months - 30 paintings (and some more). Instead of piling them all away they decided to have an exhibition and invite family and friends. 

The last paintings in progress - Teacher and student in deep conversation 

What started as a small idea grew bigger and bigger and improved so many things around it (including some people concerned) that I cannot but bow down once again to the power of an idea, however small, however humble.

The chosen ones

Once the idea of an exhibition came up we needed to figure out which paintings. How many. Names. Frames. People. Eats. Drinks. Times. Dates. Prices. Systems. 

Final touches by the artist

Places? The room with the skylight offered itself as the perfect gallery space. Where do we hang the paintings? Carpenters? Nails? Rods? Hangers? But then, does this vastly ignored room need a coat of paint, some cleaning up before it is entrusted with this huge responsibility? And so the small idea grew from the paintings and occupied the entire room. 

The artist and the guru - Anjali, Niveditha (and Vidur)

The room was cleaned and painted thanks to Shobha's drive and Monica's help and Eugene's presence, nails driven in by a reluctant carpenter Sardar, spaces created, pictures framed,, people invited, eats ordered and on the 15th of June, at 4 pm sharp, it was all in place.Niveditha and her husband Indrajit arrived early to help, and their young son Vidur did his bit. I relied on my old friend Kenny G, a usual suspect at such affairs, to play in the background – Songbird leading the way.

Anjali with her Ajji's paintings

Niveditha, another friend of Shobha’s and an artist herself (she is to have an exhibition soon) came first. Then came Urvashi with some yummy cheese and mint  sandwiches to go with the corn samosas and jalebis that were already on the table.

Anjali with the one I bought (right above her)

Anjali explained her work patiently to her patrons. Sheila came with Chimu and Adnan followed by Ram. Vasu and Ranjan came directly from Nagarjuna Sagar – most unexpectedly - which was a nice surprise.

Patron in chief - Urvashi took the flagship painting

Mythily and Harsha, Nalini and Abhishek, Deepa and her family, Mani and Anita, Monica, Anita Verghese and Ipshita, Vaishali (Harsh’s mom) came with a friend, Bijju, Prashanti, Abhinav and Apoorva, Shiva and family, Anant Talpallikar , Manisha and Anuj, the tallest person I have seen at 6 feet  eleven inches, Kiran, Chitra and Prashanth, Geeta and Ishan (who told me in no uncertain terms that he is not one for art and all those kind of things). Aditya and Vajra came by from a friend's party.

Anjali explaining her art to Urvashi

They all came and encouraged the young artist by indulging her and us, spent some time with us over snacks and coffee. It was so nice to have them all come by for the event. Here are some of the paitings.

Pumpkins

Castle

Hands on glass

Hands save plants

Haystack piles

Drive Away
I loved this and bought it before anyone else could. The car is a bit like the ones I used to draw when I was Anjali's age, the highway is much better than what I could ever have done but I loved the way its going off into a rainbow. It's the picture motto of my life from now. Drive away into the rainbow!

Two feet

Purple

Doodle hands

Dancing peacock

Fish bowl
Another of my favorite ones. This one has history too - the lone fish representing Stella, one of the goldfish Anjali had bought, and one that outlasted all her mates.

Orchids

Stripes and green
I loved this tiger - a happy, smiling and friendly looking chap who seems to be more poetic than anything else, going by the surroundings he is in - flowers, trees, fruits.

Blue mountains

Village scene
I liked these kids and their home and the rustic background - again happy, bright young people, loads of sunlight.

Chrysanthemum love

Flower vase

Winter tree
I love this one. The effect of a barren tree against snow.

Artist's hands
And the teacher's.

Reaching hands

Flower hands

Swimming fish
A riot of color, fish with purpose and direction

Feet that walked (Dr. Nalini Nargundkar, Anjali's ajji)

Anjali was pretty tired by the end of it all but she kept her humour and vanished in bouts to play with her Mythily atta. It was pretty interesting to notice how she’d react to anyone who asked her what a particular painting was. She’d look at the sticker beside  it and say ‘But it’s sold’. As the evening wore on the crowd thinned out, orders were taken, and we sat out in the breeze. Job well done and a wonderful experience.

Many thanks are owed to Niveditha who is a wonderful teacher, artist, art workshop facilitator and entrepreneur, and she comes up with  great ideas like this mini exhibition, Monica who helped with the painting, Urvashi who got some lovely snacks and prodded the impromptu effort along whole heartedly, and all of our friends and family who got together for a fun evening. Surely there will be more such occassions to meet in the future.