“Creativity comes from your inner core,” shares artist and pottery designer Anju Kumar. A visual celebration of life and divinity, the Gurgaon based artist Anju unveils her latest collection through her show Visual Mantras at her Studio Anmol in Gurgaon today.
The collection in an earthy colour palatte, with use of antique gold’s, oxidised silvers, majestic beiges, vibrant and electrifying burnt sienna’s is encapsulated on the lines of self-discovery, and encompasses different aspects of pottery with urns rendered in thematic designs and handcrafted motifs of Ganesha and Buddha.
Explaining her work, Anju says, “When I do a Buddha sculpture, the artwork is about serenity and peace and when it’s a Lord Ganesha, the focus is on the child-like innocence and the eyes. Apart from that I also do a lot of tribal structures.”
There has been no looking back for the artist since her first solo show in 1990. On foraying into pottery, Anju says, “Its been 26 years now. My life revolves around two things — it’s the passion for my work and the passion for self-discovery, which is through meditation. Even the name of the exhibition came to me through meditation. A mantra helps you reconnect with your own self. Likewise when you keep chanting a mantra, it reaches your core.”
A self- taught artist, Anju says that making pottery as a full time profession never crossed her mind. “Pottery was a hobby. It just happened. The whole process has been beautiful. Being untrained theoretically made me more keen to experimentation, work harder and learn more about the art. 26 years hence, people would not see it as an art piece, but will pleasantly call it as ‘mitti se bana hua’. The art form has been there for ages but it has recently evolved in terms of acceptance,” she says.
{{/usCountry}}A self- taught artist, Anju says that making pottery as a full time profession never crossed her mind. “Pottery was a hobby. It just happened. The whole process has been beautiful. Being untrained theoretically made me more keen to experimentation, work harder and learn more about the art. 26 years hence, people would not see it as an art piece, but will pleasantly call it as ‘mitti se bana hua’. The art form has been there for ages but it has recently evolved in terms of acceptance,” she says.
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What: Exhibition Visual Mantras
Where: Studio Anmol, C-55A, South City 1, Gurgaon
From: October 4- 9
Timings: 10am to 7pm
Nearest Metro Station: Sikandepur Metro Station on the Yellow Line