A series of captivating and thought-provoking paintings

Sarika Mehta’s exquisite, captivating and thought-provoking paintings tend to reflect a sense of enchantment as well as keen engagement with both the space and silence inhabiting within them. We take a quick look at some of the works that form part of an ongoing solo at New Delhi-based Latitude 28.

Paintings inspired from silence and wildness

Her works depicting a row of roots and a solitary bird derive inspiration from their own silence and wildness. The background and foreground lose their individuality and exchange places to create the poise. Solid objects like sticks, leaves and bird decompose themselves into subtle vibrations within and beyond the work. The thought here is that everything is stable till you mess with it, and suddenly it becomes beautiful when it is most unexpected.

A keen eye for inner beauty

Another work that depicts a bunch of decaying roots amidst melting ice cubes is about the fact that beauty lies in everything. One just has to have an eye to see and feel it. “Roots are so deep rooted that one cannot separate them. This work is a moment to cherish my inner self (my baby) when she was a three-month-old in my womb, the mixed feeling of being in present. I cherished the deep rooted roots with this melting ice, which is so opposite to each other in that present moment.”

Capturing a captive soul

In a work depicting a ladder, the starting point becomes the ending point and the ending point becomes the starting point. “I strongly connect with the fact that in the current social, political and psychological scenario, we are no longer growing up with a sense of freedom and lightness but are instead living as a captive soul. Each morning we wake-up, our thoughts clouded with tension, panic and the heavy feeling of claustrophobia. But if we can see the beauty behind it on a closer look, one observes that every individual space is talking about its own hidden stories in the same frame. And that leads to a beautiful starting point.”

Most of Sarika Mehta’s paintings are done in muted shades. ‘Born from The Terrain’, a solo show by this talented and emerging artist  from, Ahmedabad, continues till May 20, 2013.