Artists are born and not made seemed to hold true for young engineer Sai Priya Mahajan, an alumna of the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai, whose paintings were displayed at a solo exhibition at the Shobha Singh gallery of the Punjab Kala Bhawan on Saturday.
Sai Priya Mahajan with her works, which depict a varied hues of emotions and locales, on display at Punjab Kala Bhawan.
The exhibition, titled ‘Quaint Reflections’, was inaugurated by acclaimed academician artist Ravinder Sharma. Mahajan displayed 35 paintings, mostly in water colours.
Her paintings, reflecting vision, aesthetic sense and wisdom, exuded an aura of aesthetic statement. Sai Priya’s work has been inspired by legends such as Anita Jensen, Steven Ronin and Milind Malik, besides her surroundings.
Be it the environment at IIT Mumbai, her alma mater, the sunset at the Sukhna Lake or the cold summer sky of Ithaca, New York, depicting her sister’s emotions on being away from home, all found a place in her imagination as her brush strokes signified.
Some works also depicted philosophical content based on the works of celebrated poets such as Lord Byron’s ‘There is pleasure in the pathless woods’. She has also embellished some of her work with images from around the world such as the ‘The Lover’s Lock’ in Paris and more. Comic strips of Calvin and Hobbes too found illustration in her work. Mahajan has profoundly brought alive the love and appreciation for nature in her paintings ‘Stopping by the woods’, ‘A warm summer by the river side’, ‘Pine trees’, ‘The lake house, ‘The gardener’, ‘The dreamy lake’, ‘Moonlit cover’ and many more.
{{/usCountry}}Some works also depicted philosophical content based on the works of celebrated poets such as Lord Byron’s ‘There is pleasure in the pathless woods’. She has also embellished some of her work with images from around the world such as the ‘The Lover’s Lock’ in Paris and more. Comic strips of Calvin and Hobbes too found illustration in her work. Mahajan has profoundly brought alive the love and appreciation for nature in her paintings ‘Stopping by the woods’, ‘A warm summer by the river side’, ‘Pine trees’, ‘The lake house, ‘The gardener’, ‘The dreamy lake’, ‘Moonlit cover’ and many more.
{{/usCountry}}Thoughts in minute detail find their way to the canvas through precision in all forms of painting making one believe that Sai Priya is either highly gifted or trained against her claims of being an amateur. The exhibition is open between 11 am and 6 pm on August 3.
DISPLAY BY MOTHER AND MENTOR
It was never too late for Usha Mahajan, former principal of Government Polytechnic Chandigarh who rediscovered her passion for drawing from her youth. Usha Mahajan too put up 19 exhibits, mostly pencil drawings, depicting the human existence in works such as ‘Kashmiri beauty’, ‘The village belle’, ‘The gaddi girl’, ‘The handsome boy’ or ‘My dream girl’, while the romantic ‘Pyar hua iqrar hua’ aptly expressed human emotions. The essence of each creation lay in sharing its delight, be it the ‘Bhanwar’ or ‘Buddha’ or the ‘Flower’ or ‘Colour in sky’ or ‘Conversations’.