Monochromatic murmurs

Pushpa Bagrodia’s new suite of works on paper celebrate the charm and charisma of charcoals in a variety of subjects, ranging from plants, flowers and palm trees to landscapes. Around 50 works done in monochrome, each work is a dulcet rendered drawing sometimes enhanced just by the white spaces that add to its retinue of reflections in time. Shades of grey in different intonations will delight art lovers as you glimpse large panoramic as well as medium and smaller studies all done in the facile and flavoursome medium of charcoals.

Known for her coloured works in the past, this debut in the monochromatic medium is a telling example of hard work and deep devotion to creating art works that embrace the beauty and power of nature.

Some of these works are trees, some are just blades of palms and some are flowers — the studies tend to use expressionistic strokes and are drawn as an expression of personal creativity. Others are made in the ‘meticulous’, natural style, utilising very precise details to appear detailed and nuanced as we see in the flower studies.

Subjects for the 75-year-old artist  are available in the oasis of her own home in the national capital, the verdant landscaped gardens flowing with flowers and palms as well as her resort — Whispering Palms the Bagrodia’s resort in Goa — where she spends a few days every year. “It is her tones of tranquility and subtle style of strokes that speak most strongly to you, whether it is bold and expressive or quiet and detailed,” states art critic and scholar Uma Nair, who has followed her works for more than a decade.