Contradictions on canvas

Painting

It is said that painting is just another way of keeping a diary. Raqesh Vashisth, who fell in love with art at a young age, has opened up his world of colours to the city with his art show Contradictions.

The artwork, titled 1947-III, is based on Partition

Vashisth, who expresses his absolute love for painting says, "I'll be presenting a lot of my works in Pune through this exhibition. I have made these works over a period of four years based on diverse themes and figures. I will also be showing two series; one on Partition, and another of horses." His most challenging work was working on the Partition series that included a train to Pakistan depicting people climbing on it.

Raqesh Vashist is highly influenced by artist Jehangir Sabavala's paintings

"The most pivotal task was to bring about the precise expressions on the faces of those people," he reveals, continuing, "The reason I picked the Partition was because it was an immensely dynamic time with different colours, stories and too much of depth and converting it on canvas was a big undertaking."

These paintings will be shown in Pune for the first time. "I picked Pune because it is the place where I grew up in; the city has given me tremendous support," says Vashisth, "Many art lovers can relate to these paintings, and find their own stories in them."

School life involved painting for the artist, where he would memorise words in the form of designs, sketches and doodles. "I loved biology class, where I would draw animals and other figures," reminisces Vashisth.

Till: October 11, 10.30 am to 7.30 pm
At: The Mona Lisa Kalagram, Koregaon Park.