by?Sanita Ahmed
New Age
If the world has an ovarian shape and nobody knows when it really ends, then Vinita Karim?s artistic endeavours seems to be ongoing on a cyclic loop of intriguing artwork exhibits. The artist?s latest exposition opened at the Bengal Art Lounge on October 13, where Chief Guest, Pankaj Saran, the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh inaugurated the exhibition. The title echoes the feel of the exhibit, where Vinita reintroduces her artworks from the last two decades as the artistic extraordinaire she is at creating natural worlds through symbolic paintings.
The gallery showcases the distinctive forms of Vinita?s creations over the years, from the acrylic paintings collided with a rich harmony of vibrant colours from 1995 to the unconventional ovoid shapes she created in 2011 by mulling them over with lustrous landscapes.? Vinita?s paintings are not constructed exclusively from the inspiration of landscapes; rather she implements her intricate acrylic techniques to conjure up a beautiful composition using certain elements that can be found in such landscapes.
The occasional boats, the blossoming waterbeds and the rural skyline are repetitive components of her paintings which are formed with contoured brush strokes in an asymmetrical grid-like fashion. The arbitrary placement of such elements works up a fury of abstraction and along with the impressionist scenes, Vinita?s paintings blend the structural realm of colour and random natural ingredients in one astounding kaleidoscopic vision.
She also draws inspiration from 20th century Austrian artist, Friedensreich Hunderrwasser who creates his landscape paintings using similar styles. Although she was born in India, she is marinated from the rest of the world, a result evident in her paintings where she has injected her experiences from India, Switzerland, Egypt and Philippines.
She first started creating ovoid installations when she was living in the Philippines. A tornado had caused an abundance of trees to collapse, from where Vinita collected the branches and created her first oval structure using wood. Now, she creates the same using fibre glass and she explains her affection for the oval shape since it symbolizes the birth of creation.
Most of her paintings and installations are layered with deeper significances where she weaves geometric and fluid forms and creates a mythical vortex of her perception of home that makes the viewers fall in the depths of a naturalistic empire where emotions all collide into one big supernova that envelops the mind with an encompassing grasp. Being an exhilarant wanderer, she believes home is not restricted to a singular place and over the years, her paintings have matured into a natural dominion of her inner space.
The exhibition hosts the artistic evolution of Vinita over the last twenty years where viewers are brought out of the normative gaze and sprung face-to-face with a majestic set of artwork that are more than just landscapes but rather, a visual extension of the artist?s imagination and creativity. This is the artist?s third exhibition in Bangladesh since 1995 and 1998 and she hopes to re-introduce her paintings in the local art scene in Dhaka. The exhibition will remain open until October 25.