Indian contemporary artist, Sai Priya Mahajan will make her debut in Mumbai this month with her art exhibition titled “The Sound of Color!”. With 40+ pieces in watercolors and acrylics on display, through this exhibition, Sai shares her impressions of people, their passions and emotions, and her interpretation of their love and enthusiasm for their craft. She does this with a mix of realism and impressionism in watercolors. Some of her works that have been exhibited internationally, like ‘The Artist and the Muse’ will also be part of this exhibition.
Biography:
An engineer from IIT Bombay, she rekindled her love for the arts some years after graduation and has now exhibited both in India as well as internationally (Kent Art Association, USA, Chang Liu Art Museum & World Trade Centre, Taiwan). Sai is also part of several Art Associations including the National Watercolor Society, USA and the International Watercolor Society. Most recently, she won the Outstanding Watercolor Award at the Boldbrush Contest.
About her style & subjects:
Sai is a keen observer and draws inspiration for her subjects from around her. Born and brought up in the beautiful city of Chandigarh, the serene yet lively nature of the city, as well as the fast paced & undying spirit of Bombay have helped shape her aspirations and seem to have found a way into her art. Like many other artists, her subjects have changed over the years. For her they have ranged from the beauty of nature, riverscapes, seascapes, lakes, to more urban subjects such as street views, cafe indoors and now to people and their passions. Being keenly interested in music and dance herself, she is especially fascinated by the idea of artists being drawn to their craft and their medium of self-expression. For instance, the kind of delight a musician enjoys upon using the instrument, or the euphoria experienced during a performance. This is the theme she is exploring in her subjects at the moment. However, her love for nature, human relationships & the dynamic nature of city life still hold a very special place in her heart and find their way into the subjects of her paintings.
Sai likes to experiment & learn and instead of sticking to a certain style of painting. She finds a variety of techniques & styles appealing and incorporate them in her work. She paints with watercolours, acrylics & oils, often alluding to impressionism & realism.
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself."
~ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Considering art to be a necessity and not a choice, Sai Priya also enjoys translating the continuum of human emotions and the dynamic nature of city life into her paintings. Using multiple experimental styles and subjects, the ease with which Sai can switch between styles of impressionism, realism and figurative art is exceptional. Apart from watercolors, she has also used acrylics, oil and charcoal to convey her vision. She says, “colors, canvas, brushes – these are all tools through which artists express themselves”, which is why she does not like to constrain her work to a medium, style or subject. The warm tones used in her work are important in making the viewer understand the intensity of the movement, facial expression or atmosphere seen in a painting and indulge in the emotional vitality of the work for themselves. She enjoys blurring the lines of art as only being seen as a visual medium and transcends the same by depicting sounds and touch to immerse the viewer into a multisensory, holistic experience.
Supported and appreciated by prominent artists in the industry like Artist & former head of Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy- Ravindra Sharma and renowned watercolorist & Chairman of Chandigarh Lalit Kala Academy, Bheem Malhotra, the young artist considers all her work to be born out of the simple joy of creating something out of nothing. Congratulating her on her success, artist Ravinder Sharma says, “Science and art are the two important aspects of human consciousness. Like head and heart both enable man to experience the light of rational and emotional harmony, Sai has experienced the bliss that both these sources of intuitive insight bestow on mankind”.
Drawing from her favourite quote, Sai Priya says: “To me, art is not just mastery of technique and skill, it’s something that you can connect to, like having found a close friend. Every subject that I choose, every painting that I make comes from a place of personal expression. Reading a good book, listening to soulful music, watching a performance - all of these can sometimes serve as nothing short of a cathartic experience. As someone who indulges in art, I strive hard to make my work have this same quality: the quality of moving people, of making them re-experience emotions without any inhibitions, and of taking them to a different world altogether where they can feel the entirety of their emotions and experiences.”