The art of shaping ideas into sculptures and paintings

Good painting is the kind that looks like a sculpture, the eminent Michelangelo once said. But those who delve in the arts know that inspiration comes at the eighth hour of labour rather than as a bolt out of the blue.

And an artist has to put his or her other personal preoccupations and vanities aside to give shape to the idea forming in the mind and translating feelings into forms, taking the shapes of sculpture or paintings.

This is the central concept of 'Forms and Feelings', an exhibition of paintings and sculptures, featuring the work of four artists. The event will be inaugurated by eminent kathak exponent and Padma Shri recipient Shovna Narayan and noted filmmaker Shubhadarshini Singh along with Rajiv Narain, Vice President and Campus Director of MAII Stratford International University, New Delhi.

Starting on September 23, at Sridharani Gallery of Triveni Kala Sangam, the exhibition will last till October 2.

The four artists whose works will be on display are Saroj Jain, Madhulika Jha, Shashi K Paul and Sarfuddin Ahmed, who in their own unique and diverse styles have expressed their feelings and emotions.

Saroj Jain heads the Sculpture Department of Triveni. Her work is defined by strong lines that balance her compositions perfectly. Taking subjects from daily life, she presents them in her own unique way using various props like chairs and benches and blends them beautifully into her work.

"It has been a self-evolved process for me and I sculpt ideas that come to my mind. I believe in my own power of imagination. I feel that an artist cannot get much idea from other artist's works because art has to come from within," she says.

Her work this season is all about the ever controversial 'Chair' and the different ways we all see it in their everyday lives, yet not take notice. The series is called 'Reaching Out.'

Madhulika Jha's tryst with art is embedded in her childhood and has produced a large body of work both in paintings and sculpture where as Shashi K Paul is best known for his sculptures in steel, bronze and fiberglass. Ingeniously blending together fragility and strength, he creates complex, yet balanced compositions of the human form. He has experimented with installations and murals as well.