Straddling between figurative and abstract, the art on the walls of Gallery Espace in Delhi appear to be leaves out of artist Mekhala Bahl’s diaries, recording her observations and mundane routine. While occasionally words make an appearance, it’s the visuals that narrate stories. The solo titled “Is that | that is” comes more than five years after her last, “The Geometry of Error”, held in 2009. “My work is very layered and intense in terms of which pieces are kept and which don’t make it. The selectiveness requires time; I need to revisit the work, and be sure that it does justice to my vision as an artist,” says the 36-year-old. She combs etching, drawings and paintings to create layered works that showcase her prowess with painting, and her formal training as a printmaker. If B.E. is a circular etching with geometric patterns, in Green Rocket she has a rocket zooming across the canvas. Bahl trained at the College of Art, Delhi, before completing her graduation from Rhode Island School of Design in 2003. An avid traveller, Bahl has worked and exhibited the world over, imbibing elements from different countries into her work. If solid and saturated colours come from a Roman summer, from Japan she borrows fine lines and traditional oriental strokes. So Trees has coniferous from the mountain meadows in a pattern, and Horseshoe has an inverted horseshoe, inspired by the childhood tales she heard of children riding their favourite horses in Kashmir.
