Ironing out the kinks

"The paper loses its stubbornness and becomes more receptive," says Vanita. The iron also determines the size of her paintings. Wherever the paper, now brittle with heat breaks off, the paint stops. And some of the smaller pieces which fall off become the miniatures she slowly paints. But perhaps size does matter because the beauty of her works really comes to fore in the larger ones.

The shape of the paintings is also determined by heat, some look like paleolithic stone daggers, some are simply little torn pieces of paper and others are rough edged squares or circles. Quite a few are works which are scraps of paper stuck over one another and painted in transparent tones. And most of her paintings, specially ones in the smaller format, have been stuck overtorn covers of old books she purchased from the raddiwallah. The framing of her works have also been determined by the concept of freedom. The see-through acrylic sheets have a board of the same material jutting out from behind which keeps the paintings from hugging the walls. "This gives a feeling of suspension, as if you are left loose," she says.

The need for freedom and transparency have preoccupied Vanita for a long time. Even her first solo show, mostly of huge abstract canvases, had the paint applied and taken off leaving just traces of colour, "to get that transparency". What has changed though is the manner of painting. Her earlier works have a lot of action with the canvas covered with many swift strokes of paint. And in this show, the colours seem to be a part of the paper. At 28, the hurry has gone out of her work, "It is more easy and calm now. I guess, gradually you come to know what you really want and that reflects in your work,".