Truth Revealed by Vandana at Triveni Art Gallery.

Delhi attracts me on every Sunday. Some magnetic force pulls me to come to my favourite places in the city. Strolling through Mandi House, I thought of visiting Triveni Kala Sangam to have something at the cafe. While going towards the cafe, a black coloured canvas caught my attention for a mini-second. I took my steps back and couldn’t control myself going inside the Triveni Art Gallery. I asked if I could enter? ‘Yes’ was the reply.

On the left wall, I saw a long text which introduced me to the artist named Vandana. It was her first solo. I started observing the art pieces, and every other canvas on the wall was eye-catching. Pun Intended: Eye catching. There was depth in every bold stroke. It depicted pain, anger, mixed emotions. I was entranced by the faces in the paintings. It took me to a different universe; this was the time when I realised that an art piece speaks volumes of truth. It is so real, still we escape from reality. We ignore the happenings around us and Vandana with her observations and imaginations put it up on the canvas for the world to see these moments of truth. The world of her paintings has titles like Intolerance, Self-Assurance, Deeply Effected, Communal Endeavour.

‘What would have made her make these paintings?’ This was the question going on in my head and I asked her, ‘What is art for you?’

She said in a sweet tone, ‘Art for me is Aggressive.’ And I was out of words. I’ve never seen somebody observing smallest of the occurrences in the society and the art is screaming for itself. My second question to her was that what influences you to make this?

To that she replied, ‘Whatever I watch on a News show, I read more about it and extract stories. I come in front of the canvas, pick up my brushes and start painting. First, I paint the whole canvas with my favourite palette colours, then the characters come out in that process on its own. The faces of the people reflect my anger and aggression.’

These words made me speechless and also I’m happy that Vandana’s following the tradition of being an artist daughter of an artist father.

To end this story, I would want to say that an artist’s responsibility is to create art for truth and break stereotypes. A painting has a lot of power to convey emotions. Emotions which are felt almost every day, but ignored due to several circumstances. We’ve the power to make this world a better place.