LOFTY ASSIMILATIONS

Show of paintings by

TULIKA LADSARIYA

Adopting the principle that inspiration is best found in one's own surroundings, Tulika Ladsariya’s work is inspired by the contrasts and extremes of urban cities - how they are constructed, who constructs them, how inhabitants react to them and how they affect the natural environment. The influence of the urban landscapes of Mumbai, London and Chicago- the three major cities where the artist has spent significant years of her life- form the basis of her images and work .

She examines two severe influences – city construction and environmental impact – which at once represent the pinnacle and the nadir of human activity.

Tulika was born and raised in Mumbai, India in a traditional family with a financial focus. However , with their encouragement and support , she followed her dream and passion and in 2005, she moved to London to study at the Chelsea College of Art and Design.

Consequently on her return to Mumbai, she studied Indian Aesthetics at Jnanapravaha, simultaneously working as a General Manager for an art fund and auction house.

Tulika has shown her work in Mumbai and in Chicago over the past few years. She presently lives and works in Chicago.

Lofty Assimilation

Having lived for more than two decades in Mumbai, Tulika is constantly struck by the   incessant need for renovation. The city threatens to fall apart at the seams but always stops just short, with everything held together by duct tape. To the artist, bamboo scaffolding is an allegory of this fragility. The matrix of bamboos creeps up skyscrapers, gingerly holding on. Surely the frail jute strings are not enough and the same invisible glue is at work here.

In her more recent scaffolding paintings, the city is reduced to mere explorations of shape and manipulation of surface. The carefully composed recurring visual motifs of spatial divides suggest at the physical and emotional isolation of urban life. The use of molding paste and  gels lends a rugged, three-dimensional view to the scaffolding and makes it almost come to life against the colorful patterned background. The workmen, hanging on to the bamboos are mere black silhouettes and their identity remains irrelevant and obscure.

This comprehensive collection of ' Lofty Assimilation' brings to the viewer a surreal perspective of the artist’s window view from her studio in Mumbai city.

Show opening on Friday 5th August  2011, 6.30pm onwards continues till 12th September  2011,

Gallery hours : 11 am to 7 pm [ except sundays ]

Pravina Mecklai

Proprietor

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