" BEYOND MITHILA - Exploring the Decorative "

Paintings and Textiles Embroideries

by

SHELLY JYOTI

"The past is not dead . In fact , it's not even just past " wrote William Faulkner .

This is cetainly true of India today , where we happily marry the tradition of our glorious past with the contemporary culture of today .

We see it in the garba and bhangra even now being danced , but to disco beats. In fashion we see that saris and ghagras are not abonedoned but combined with the noddle straps and corset cholis . on the other hand , elaborate mirror work backless blouses are worn with jeans. In music we still have the sitar , table and santoor , now played with electronic instrument . Our mythological and religious stories are adapted to TV and film viewers . Religious like Eid, Holi, Ganpati and Diwali are done with more enthusiasm but in a modern way .

In the visual arts it is even stronger . The old traditional forms reincarnated i the new contemporary avatar . Several eminent artist   like M. F. Hussain , Nilima Sheikh , Arpana Caur , Jayasri Burman  draw from the traditional art forms, mythological imagery and folk motifs to create them in a new media and genre .

Shelly Jyoti is certainly one of these artists . Exploring the decorative elements of the age-old Mithila art form and translating it into a modern idiom.

Mithila and Madhibani art is practiced in Bihar and was done exclusively by women , as it needed exactitude and patience . It is centred around mythological , folk and tantric themes . Mithila art is filled with symbols of fertility and prosperity like the fish , elephant , sun , moon , bamboo plant and lotus . The colours are extracted from vegetables pigments and are bright and cheerful-green from leaves , yellow from turmeric , red and pink from beetroots and orange from marigolds .

Shelly is particularly attracted to the vivid colours and strong line work in Mithila art .

While aspects of  Mithila tradition is drawn upon in this decorative series , Shelly's paintings have been reinvented and augmented in a way to create works that are exuberant , intricate , well put together and very exemplary of 21st century India .

Shelly has not only taken elements of Mithila paintings , she has also taken inspiration from diverse decorative traditions of India and beyond . These includes "zardosi" from persia brought by the Moghuls , "kantha" from Bengal , and different chinese embroideries . All of this is creatively resurrected and fused by Shelly who is guided by form , agnostic of source , forging  her own brand of heterogeneous and ornamental pantings that are truely beautiful in the classic sense of the word .

For Shelly , Beyond Mithila - Exploring the decorative" is all about spiritual experience in the 21st century of the art that belonged to the 7th century .

Come , see this exquisite collection .

Show opens Friday 3rd October ' 08 , 6: 30 pm onwards .

Continue till 3rd November ' 08.

Gallery hours 11 to 7 pm (except Sunday)