A Prelude by Jayant B. Joshi
Abstraction’s conceptual strides allow contemporary painters a total freedom to explore a vast array of choices.
Ms. Nirmala Singh creates paintings using broad brushstrokes of earth colours that align in ways suggestive of elusive horizons. Her work hints at subtle impressions, pleasures, and pains magnified; relying on diffused hues and textures to convey moods.
Every artist/poet is differently inspired at different places, in contrasting situations and various seasons, and here, as a painter, Ms. Nirmala is responding by pushing the conceptual boundaries of her personal experiences to underline and express. These bold, profound, expansive visuals consisting of impulsive yet deliberate strokes are intriguing statements, often diminishing elements of the urban existence, reducing them to convey an essence of a feeling or a lasting impression or an impact or a happening.
She has successfully balanced her meditative focus and insightful reflections, in tune with her evolved aesthetic equations, acquired through her training, conditioning and practise to create this body of work. Without referencing traditional landscapes; she is presenting here slices of her own inner imagery through these abstractions.
She is also attesting to the idea that the conceptual landscape contains much more. An infinite number of compelling perspectives are waiting to be discovered.
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Nirmala Singh
“‘To see our face in the mirror we cannot move. If we do, all we see is just momentum.” Nirmala Singh
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Notes Jayant B. Joshi is a painter, photographer and poet. He lives in Pune.
Born in Naglalodha, a small village 20 kms southwest of Etah, Uttar Pradesh; Nirmala Singh grew up with 7 siblings. She has created artwork on the nature of time and emotions while studying for an M.A. in Sociology from Agra University in 1994. She subsequently studied art ending up with an M.F.A. from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai (2014). At the All India Art Competition held by IIM – Ahmedabad she won the first prize and the Merit Award by Sir J.J. School of Art for Fine performance in Art. She was also awarded the 1st Prize at the 4th All India Women Artists Contemporary Art Exhibition, Chandigarh (2015). Her works have been exhibited at the Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi (Samarpan, 2018) and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (Life Hues, 2019). Her early artwork was focused on time and its effect on human emotions. ‘All human-felt situations & circumstances are a consequence of the interaction between nature and time.’ More recently, her focus has shifted: abstraction is yet another filter to observe things in their present/stationary state. To her, objects, animate or otherwise are constantly in the midst of change.
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