The first thing you notice about this artwork is the unreserved use of colour - few could pack as many colour punches as Rajnish Kaur. Shocking pinks combine with Chinese vermillion, radiant turquoise, Indian yellow-green lake and cobalt violet to form layers of texture, abrupt diagonal strokes, clouds of little dots, organic forms and occasional fleeting figurative images.

One of the new generation of India’s finest contemporary artists, this is her first solo exhibition in Singapore and it’s promising to be a corker. Born and living in Delhi this passionate artist is the creator of powerful and commanding paintings.

The exhibition is a collaboration between ReDot gallery and collector Elisabeth Hutchinson who recalls ‘When I first saw one of Rajnish’s paintings on show at Delhi’s Habitat Centre in 2003, I was blown away and captivated by the beauty and raw talent radiating from the canvas. I wasn't the only one to be excited by her work, at the time she was the new kid on the block but 30 shows later she is exhibited and collected around the world’.

Perhaps her inspiration comes from the ancient Indian Miniature painting that she loves and studied or maybe it’s the hustle and bustle of the vibrant market only feet from her front door with its dogs and cows moving here and there, rickshaws competing for space with luxury cars, fruit and vegetable stalls and wedding shops selling garlands, beads and ornate clothing. Either way she brings those stunning colour palettes to life in her work.

With the dual influence of the traditional Delhi College of Art [where she got a BFA and MFA] combined with the more progressive approach of London’s Chelsea college of Art [Postgraduate] she paints big evocative abstracts which don’t fit into obvious genres of Indian art. While her imagery draws upon the styles of both the impressionists and abstract expressionists, this original work cannot be easily placed within the context of her generation or culture.

There is a sense of artifice and reality and a connection with the familiar in her paintings yet they exude intellectual and technical mastery and a true feeling of integrity. While most of the imagery blurs into abstraction there is a strong impression of story and history and its visual representation. Within the textured and generously applied layers of paint you may recognise a moment of life; a perfect summer’s day, the embers of a dream, the smell of rain, the bustle of urban life or the wonder of childhood. Her work is an evocation of experience and with an undeniably powerful draw. Brimming with feelings, memories and desires it is an homage to the exuberance of life and intensity of existence.

‘Each painting is born of a struggle…..and in the process of creating’ says Rajnish ‘interesting things surface and other images are buried - the happiness of birth and the sadness of death - just as in life itself’..

The process behind Rajnish’s work may be intellectual and intense but the result is stunning art bursting with colour, which is quite simply, beautiful.