Says Renu Modi, Director, Gallery Espace: “Anjana’s body of work gives voice to the trials and tribulations faced by those innocent victims caught in the midst of social, political and religious unrest and who have been displaced from their homes during these times of conflict in her large format canvases.”
Says Anjana Mehra: “PipeDreams is about an infinite search in our metropolises within the corrosive nature of technologiszed societies. It is about the eventual alienation caused by the accelerated pace of life in mechanized consumer cultures. PipeDreams is about that pot of gold which supposedly awaits us at the end of the rainbow.”
Deeply involved with the ruthless transience and violence of life, Anjana Mehra lets her work reflect the pain and grief of living. She paints dereliction and despair with the note of hope wrapping itself around the anxious structures and sundry materiality of building and industrial phenomena. Her canvases capture memories of smoke from mill chimneys which emits densely smoke through the pipe and tubular form, an animation similar to a graphic equalizer on a music consul, the geometric grids of high-rise buildings that have cropped up all over the city and a poetic offering that comes in the form of a small bouquet of wild flowers that are found growing out of the pipes and on the pavement.
In some cases, the artist’s work reflects her personal experiences of displacement and loss. Recalling the religious rioting and violence across India, caused by the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the artist says, “Those days of the riots are firmly etched in my memory. I could not even cross the road and visit my parents as I was warned by policemen that I would be hacked to death by rioters if I tried. We were inundated by phone calls that tried to ensure our safety. The empty streets and the smell of fear is so real for me.”
Born in 1949, Anjana Mehra studied Painting (Fine Arts) at the Sir J.J.School of Art, Mumbai (1965) and Print Making at the M.S.University, Baroda (1972).
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