Conversations With Paper

Renowned collage artist Uma Sharma from Mathura held the world’s largest paper collage painting exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery in June. The week-long exhibition of religiously inspired paper collage artworks titled ‘Kaagaz Ki Zubaani’ or intimate conversations with paper showcased 80+ works from her smallest to largest paper collage works. The grand show was inaugurated in the presence of distinguished guests and art lovers. One of the finest Indian contemporary artists and an art educator practising her passion in paper collages internationally known and a Masters in Fine Arts (paintings) from SNDT College, Mumbai, the multifaceted artist has many accolades to her credit. Amongst her moments of pride, she has had many solo exhibitions, workshops and group participations in her five-decade long artistic journey.

“My paintings are intimate conversations with paper that deliberately means using No Paint, No Brush! Most of them realistic, they depict life in villages, at ghaats and temples mainly focussing on a joyful journey of our lives! I have a soft corner for nature and religion which shows in my various works. All this can be viewed in a big-sized paper collage made by me which has also been acknowledged by Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest paper collage,” she adds. Some of the interesting paintings on display were Twelve Birds, Phoolwali, City Scape II, Morning at Ganga Ghaat, Hut in Village, Aangan Vriksha, Krishna, Sai Baba, and more. Uma’s works are part of proud collections of many art lovers from Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Mathura, Agra, the UK, Germany, St. Petersburg, London and Dubai.

The Sky is Blue

Artist Ram Pratihar held a solo show of 25 paintings at Jehangir Art Gallery in June. The paintings created in acrylic colours on canvas and paper boasted of a combination of bright and hazy colours, each lending its own unique touch. Ram has his own world of colours—yellow, violet, red, black, white, and blue being his favourite. What sets him apart from other artists is his technique of dividing space on the canvas using colours.

The untitled paintings in abstract style offer the viewer a new art vision. Ram Pratihar hails from the historical city of Bundi in Rajasthan, and has earlier exhibited his paintings in Jaipur, Kota and Delhi. The show was attended by the who’s who of art and entertainment—Roopkumar Rathod, Leslee Lewis, Rupali Suri, veteran artists Padmanabh Bendre and Kiran Chopra, art collector Ajoykant Ruia, Gautam Patole, Dr. Anusha Srinivasan Iyer, artists Paramesh Paul, Sanjukta Arun, Vipta Kapadia, Ashish Kumar Shringi, Kamal Jain and Pradeep Chandra. The turnout spoke of how the future is bright for this amazing artist.

Ram Pratihar at the show