I paint,therefore I am…

WINDOW TO THE WORLD: Change’s the only constant,and Ela’s works have transformed through the years. Her figures are universal,so the clothes are indefinable,“I’m a figurative painter,you can’t get away from human contact. Even my landscapes,if bereft of people,are reminiscent of them,’’ Anjolie’s portraits,of her then young sons,her American grandmother,her husband’s family,her grandchildren,friends…she puts feelings into her work as she talks about them. Into the woman’s world,be it the mother-child series,innocent nudes…”it’s with empathy that I paint these,’’ for Ela,enigmas are important,to have something left unsaid,just like her series on windows,something Ela began after her marriage to childhood friend,an officer in the Navy. “Many critics said I was painting that for I felt trapped and needed to break free. But here I was,happily trapped,living at various places beside the sea,which also inspired a series,stories of of the sea.’’ The window series,smiles Ela,was a result of a happy accident,as she needed urgently a frame for a window,and instead used an old window to pin it on and so was born a new genre. View of faraway landscapes,women in the red light area,empty chairs… “I was always fascinated by interiors,what life goes on behind the windows,the dramas being enacted,’’ Ela looks for windows at varied places.

Who’s-Who…: Painting Indira Gandhi on the move,painting her nose longer than it were…Ravi Shankar,darker and without his sitar,yet his hands in motion,painting a nude for JRD Tata’s office,Ela fills the evening with touching anecdotes…Crow,kites,toys,some images keep coming back to her work,the crow a companion for long 15 years,“the crow represents Mumbai’s wild life,is an intelligent,urban creature and forced its way into my paintings and stayed there,’’ she goes back in time,her work encompassing a few abstracts,fewer events,day-to-day life,common and famous people.

Art & I: “When I started painting,there were only 300 to 400 painters. Most of us were idealists,we didn’t look for fame or money,it came easier to us. I paint from memory,rarely calling any one for a sitting. I enjoy working with new mediums,so I painted many objects,staring with chairs,then tables,suitcases and included humour and satire into Indian art and bringing it down from the pedestal. I have done computer-aided work,had a tryst with glass,looked for sources in calendar art,streets. In my work,both dream and reality co-exist. The struggle of an artist is to create a signature,keep yourself innocent,shed baggage and be in contact with the sub-conscious. I paint everyday,no matter where I am,for new experiences never cease to exist.”

Anjolie Ela Menon was in the city on the invitation of the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi,for a a lecture and slide show,My Creative Journey.