Son of the Soil

Following folk traditions,Mistry renders his paintings in acidic colour tones,often marked by contrasting hues. Explaining the practice,he says,“Folk art employs easily procurable colours. They (folk artists) derive their colours from the direct application of sundry items such as vermillion,indigo,turmeric,and some naturally occurring whites. They are oblivious of the concept of mixing colours.”

It is easy for the viewer to be beguiled by Mistry’s modest claims of simplicity. His paintings,when viewed from a distance,appear woolly and carpet-like. The border of every figure seems almost frayed,looking like nothing less than folk motifs embroidered onto cloth. It is in this deception where Mistry’s mastery dwells. On being inspected closely,the paintings display a composition of precise,minute strokes packed in fields of contrasting colours. “It is a laborious process. The effects I try to create in my paintings can be induced only when the paint is wet. Therefore,it requires me to finish my paintings in one sitting. Each large canvas takes about 20 hours to complete,”he says.

“I employ the ‘dry-brush technique’. The tool is a tiny brush,only a few millimetres in length,containing a few filaments. I,then,use the tool to overlap two fields of wet paint to achieve the frayed borders,” explains Mistry.

Mistry’s art has come of age through years of research and nurturing. Each individual stroke in this tedious process is irrevocable and must be so to create the desired embroidered effect. A close examination of the paintings will also reveal tiny,circular strokes that have been applied during the finishing stages of the painting to give it a cloth-like appearance. These details,says Mistry,“add a certain amount of vibration to the painting and gives it an organic quality.”