Home and Away

During her current sojourn in India,she is exhibiting a body of mixed media works at Delhi’s Gallery Art Motif from February 7. “I have embraced charcoal as my primary medium for 30 years,using a variety of improvised tools such as ear syringes,brushes and many types of erasers to manipulate it,” says the Mumbai-born Dastur.

Although she has a Masters of Fine Arts degree in oil painting from American University in Washington DC,Dastur preferred the dry chalky medium of charcoal and dry pastel,since she was raised a household like any good Parsi girl and doing oils was out of the question. Besides,she loves the direct contact with the medium,smudging and layering it with her hands.“In the US,I have a home studio that I had built for myself when I was in graduate school. Now,I have a watertight routine where I do my gym in the morning and then work non-stop,like a full-time job,at my canvases,” says Dastur,who has done a body of mixed media canvases,acrylic,charcoal and gesso,for this solo.

Most of her social life and family is in Mumbai. “I stay in a two bedroom apartment,where my younger daughter lives. Her balcony is currently my studio,” says Dastur,known to sketch even on vacation.

Her work could mostly be called abstract,though there are a few figures scattered among the maze of geometrical lines and objects that float in the sea of subtle colours on her canvas. The aerial view of the city of Mumbai has played muse to her while she transports the viewer beyond the obvious lure of colour and subject,into a world of contemplation.

The exhibition will be on till February 28. Contact: 42664343