For the love of art

For Tara Sharma Singla, art is a passion. A graduate from the Chandigarh College of Architecture, the professional architect has been honing her interest since the last eight to nine years, and is back in the city with her works as part of a group show of paintings and sculptures titled ‘Master Strokes’.

Conceptualised by Kishore Labar, the show brings together works by artists like F N Souza, M F Husain, Ram Kumar, along with Inderjeet Grover, Gaurav Chawla, Kamlesh Tiwari, Somnath Das, Pintu Sikder, Hamlet Shougrakpam and Singla among others.

“I experiment with a lot of mediums, including charcoal, black ink, watercolour and acrylic in my works. This is why I say my palette consists of nine colours,” laughs Singla.

The artist, who also teaches art criticism in a college, adds that her works comprises elements which are inspired by her profession. “You will notice a lot of overlays in my works; there is texture, depth and also detailing. And all my works have a theme to them,” says the artist who has exhibited three of her works – ‘Pompeii’, ‘Chaabi’ and ‘Faith’.

While she experiments with varied mediums, Gaurav Chawla does “abstract energyscapes”, and Kamlesh Tiwari tries to explore the “depth of nature” through his works.

Tiwari, who hails from Nainital, tells Metrolife that he works in monochrome. But then, we ask, nature is all about colours, why stick to black and white?

He smiles and says, “I actually pay a lot of attention to detailing and line work, and there is no better medium which helps highlight nature’s beauty so intricately.”

Labar, who has carefully selected the works of each artist, says that all the 29 artists participating in the show “are not just masters, as the theme suggests, but are individuals who with their passion and love for art convert idea to master art”. “I feel we need to appreciate our own art, and also promote and motivate newcomers,” he says.

Master Strokes is on display at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, until May 13.