Renowned international artist, Rajul Mehta, will play host to her first solo show in Singapore, titled “Bollywood”, celebrating Bollywood artists and the cinematographic industry. The exhibition will be held from October 21st to October 24th at the Arts House, Singapore.
After showcasing a number of international artists through her Art Facet gallery, at the Arts House last year, as well as participating in a number of art fairs such as Art Singapore, Affordable Art Fair, and Art Expo Malaysia, Rajul decided to kick start the year by showcasing her “Bollywood” series, inspired from the colourful dramas of the film industry. These paintings deal with the fate of mythic and tragic characters, relationships of love, betrayal, devotion and fidelity and the epic and impossible battles of the generation gap.
Born in India, Rajul moved to Israel when she was only nineteen years old. Mehta studied art at the Midrashah in Ramat Hasharon, considered the preeminent place of learning for Israeli artists, which opened a large window on Western culture. Her move away from the country she ones called home, allowed her to perpetually reflect and look back with a different set of eyes. In the framework of bringing memory of the past to the surface, Rajul brings to the surface her India. In a totally analytical manner, despite emotional involvement, she examines her past and her India and elicits points of note from there. A memory that is a haven but at the same time a protest. Bollywood, the traditional Indian ornament and colour, are only examples of memory of the past that surfaces to consciousness.
The word “Bollywood” itself is a colourful concept, full of fantasy and the wonderful dream world of the film industry, based on the old, traditional Hollywood style. Colour, drama, songs and dances, love and endless struggles are all included in this fascinating and gripping genre, which has made inroads into the Western culture in the last decade. In India alone, the fans number more than 40 million people, which has transpired to Bollywood symbolising and demonstrating the lifestyle of modern and advanced Indian society. It confronts the past with the future, truth with falsehood, and innocence with forbidden daring, all of which are subjects of Mehta’s paintings.
A four-day event at Singapore’s signature art venue, the Arts House, Rajul will present a series of paintings, expressing the mythical characters of the Bollywood industry in painted collages of images from the films. Acknowledging antecedents such as Andy Warhol and Pop, which massively registered the influence of cinema back in the 1960’s and after, the artist draws inspiration translating her own interpretations of this genre. In her work, the properties of painting, hand and matter are brought back into play in a way that allows us a glimpse into the mysteries of her world and the very original sources of her creativity.
New York gallerist Paul Rodgers perfectly sums up Rajul’s style: “The artist’s point of view on contemporary culture is complex but incisive. Her paintings convey the rapture and enthusiasm of mass consumer culture … Ultimately, it is this blend of personal exoticism with the common currency of international contemporary art which endows Mehta’s paintings with particular poignancy.
