Shapes of creativity

Like the Warli murals,most of her paintings comprise of three basic elements,which are found in them — the circle,the triangle and the square. “It is the simplicity of this art form that appeals to me the most,” she says about her fascination with the art form. While the original tradition makes use of brown and white as the most predominant colors,Pathak uses vibrant colors on her canvases. “I love earthy colors and usually figure out how to go about it and make a rough sketch either on paper or in my mind,” adds the artist.

Her works are equally expressive too. One of them has a group of people overlooking a train – the amalgamation of urban and rural bringing back memories of the famous ‘train scene’ from the Satyajit Ray classic ‘Pather Panchali’. While the take might be a very contemporary one,given that Warli paintings usually depicted the closely-knit relationship between man and the primal,Pathak claims that her works are aimed at ensuring that modern society too can connect to them.

Another art form that has caught the artist’s eye is Madhubani. “It mainly has figurative drawings and is very different from Warli,” says Pathak,adding,“Apart from these folk arts,works of artists like Raza and Almelkar are also deeply inspirational for the realism in their styles.” Commenting on her own method,she states that she prefers making bullocks and wheels in most of her paintings. “The wheel is the life cycle as well as the energy and bullock refers to perseverance and hard work,” she explains.

When she is not teaching art at a city school,Pathak is occupied at stylising restaurants and painting saris and fabrics for various boutiques. “Like,very recently,an uptown restaurant had asked me to translate the works of the Russian philosopher Gurdjieff’s to Warli style paintings,” she mentions.

On her future she hints at shifting her base from folk arts to the abstract medium. “It can prove to be a new challenge,” she says.

(Vaishali Pathak’s Warli paintings will be on display till August 15 at Malaka Spice,Koregaon Park)