A sense of ennui had set in. In all the cacophony of contemporary Indian art creating cataclysmic costs for itself, I wondered whatever happened to good old ‘visual delight’, ‘aesthetics’, ‘expression of intense emotion’, ‘vision’ that went into the process of creating a painting. Chatting with Jaya Wheaton was like taking a u-turn, back to the basics. For her petite frame, the lady packs in a lot of fire. She echoes what Octavio Paz said, “one must not confuse the hegemony of the market place with fruitfulness, imagination and power to create.”
Face to face
They stare down at me, I look up to them.The smile leaves the mouth and sparkles in the eyes of a Rajasthani youth.Two old men in quiet conversation, their wrinkles whisper of a whole age gone by. A woman in a rustic rendition — bangles, ‘bodla’, arm bands define her bond to the land. Each curve of the turban, each fold of the dhoti, each circle of the bangles speak of the intensity with which Jaya reveals a fineness in her details. “I live off the desert’s earthy colours. I love the people, the forts, the bazaars, the jewellery, camels, parrots, the sand dunes.”
It shows. Warm tones of ochre, burnt sienna, dusty whites, earthy gold, sandy hues, muted rusts and somewhere mirrors wink at you. Textures convey the spirit of the land –  rugged, courageous, tolerant, a will to live life and accept it in all its shades. It has to come from within the artist – just the way she looks at life.
Strokes and struggle
From a progressive family of doctors, Jaya’s mother “made her” get through her graduation before an Applied Arts degree from JJ School of Arts, Mumbai. “On weekends, I saw every exhibition, studied the techniques, subjects of every artist showing then. That was an unparalleled exposure. I joined an art studio where I drew, drew and drew to get the figure right. I did illustrations for advertisements, posters, book covers. With no computers every message needed an illustrator.”
With Bill Wheaton, her husband, she journeyed into the interiors of India, “sketch book in hand.” “We would come back to work on our canvasses.” The duo did four or five shows in Mumbai in the 60s which were instant successes. “I painted Rajasthan in my style, Bill in his. The shows gave us enough to travel and get more canvasses and oil paints to move ahead.”
Separated from her husband, Jaya took up a job as an illustrator, making film strips for UNICEF. Dabbling with painting for children’s books, she moved on to working with crinkled glass  ,making larger than life murals for ‘film stars’ bathrooms, fairies from children’s stories and Madonnas for churches, as large as swimming pools. “I enjoyed the freedom with the colour but could not take a break even for five minutes.”
The conflict between ‘art for yourself’ and ‘art for commerce’ tore into her. To emerge unscathed was her victory. “That period” was a perpetual struggle. Art was barely given due recognition, the media was not sensitive, tourism in Jaipur did not encourage a market for painters. To sustain herself Jaya was on the move constantly. Between Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta, she had to carve out her niche since Jaipur did not have an appreciative audience. “People did not want to spend on art, neither did they treat artists with very well. If they bought a painting for a ‘pip squeak’ sum of Rs 500, they felt it was a social service done toward the artist.” Her endeavors fuelled her, it was a cyclical inspirational process.
The Emergence: Murmurs in her mind, stirrings in her heart, “I thought why not do it for myself, have my own show ?” “I was doing anything an artist could do in Jaipur – designed carpets, hand printing blocks for textiles, silk paintings for Dubai and got a lot of offers to teach. I did not want to teach, I wanted to learn.” “The theme for my first show in 1980, at the Taj Art Gallery, Mumbai, was portraits of dancing girls. My technique of embellishing took a long time for each painting to finish. I was also my own manager and publicity agent, travelling with my paintings to Mumbai two months before my show.”
“I was on the cover pages of magazines the day I alighted from the train in Mumbai. Mumbai is amazing. People were there for the opening of my show before me, with flowers on my table, it was a total sell out. In Jaipur, at half the rates, there were no comments, only bargaining. Rajasthan’s richness was relatively unknown, my travels around Jaiselmer and Kutch hunting for subjects added soul to my work.”
Work is worship
 “Discipline, focus and a ‘switching off’ from the outside world, it is a struggle but a ‘good’ struggle.” “Creative blocks do happen. A state of flux does make things fluid. At this stage I am trying to once again find that focus and sense of discipline, adjusting to the demands of running a house, a workaholic son, my organic garden and the city’s demands.”
Where ‘art’ thou? “Contemporary Indian art is booming more than the gold market and real estate. Generation new is getting interested in art. They may not know too much about art per se. The attention is either on the old masters or the beginners.” A new breed – the ‘art dealer’ has become bigger than the artist and his work. “Large spaces, money, global contacts – art kept in ‘consignments’ – that is how the ‘business’ of art functions now. “It’s more about wine and cheese, designer outfits, ‘who’s who’. Good networking sells more than good art.”
 “I went to an art dealer in Mumbai and asked for a ‘Jaya Wheaton’, he showed me 20 copies. The new luxury train touring the Shekhawati region in Rajasthan has copies of my paintings. How can the government allow this to happen? It is so degrading. Well reputed galleries in Jaipur are selling copies with a “oh we didn't know” attitude.” “When I paint, I struggle with the colours, the layers, expressions, the eyes speak. In ‘copies’, it can’t happen, they don’t have a life because that life came from my being, my blood.” “This is my greatest disappointment.”
She finds herself in music. “I listen to anything – popular Hindi, old English, pop, rock, instrumental and jazz.” “The green in my garden revives me.”
“May be I will do a show – a retrospective of sorts, but not in Jaipur. There are so many copies being sold already. I don’t want to give them more content to copy.” As honest in her being as the honesty in her paintings, Jaya’s work is a personal means of expression, intensely emotional, rich in cultural history.