Multi-disciplinary artist Anu Malhotra feels that creativity cannot be boxed and every creative person can extend themselves to different mediums. With that belief, despite not acquiring any professional degree in art, the self-taught artist is showcasing 30 paintings along with a woodcraft section which includes 10 sculptures that include masks, totems and figures. Besides this, there are three light installations.
At her ongoing exhibition, Flow Dreams, taking place at The Apparao Gallery at The Lodhi, New Delhi, she is also presenting a small contemporary tribal-inspired section. “In this, there are two sculptures, three totem poles and two masks. These are all contemporary versions of tribal art. The paintings, on the other hand, are inspired by India,” she says.
Malhotra's style is unique and works are flowy in nature. Unlike others, she does not use a brush, but instead pours the paint with mugs and bottles directly on the canvas. She then moves the canvas around to hold the paint and create a picture.
Describing the technique she says, “I start pouring paint and that's how I have developed my own style. Sometimes I also use my hands. When I pour the paint, I tilt the canvas and the colours run into each other. The works look like they are in transition because the colours blend into each other.” It is with this urge of being experimental that she has created a distinct style. The artist takes pride in being a self tutor. “Had I studied art, nobody would have told me that I can pour paint directly on the canvas. They would have taught me to use a brush and I would have got bored,” she emphasises.
Malhotra is also a film maker. She has received 15 national and one international award. She has done travel shows in the past. “Being a director helped me get a great visual sense, understanding about space, analysis and colour. Travelling all over India has helped me get familiar with colours. That's where the influence of colours has come in my paintings, making them all the more colourful,” she says.
Aarambol by Anu Malhotra
It is one of the reasons that her works are really about colours of India. “Indians are a bunch of colourful people and that's what is reflected in my art. Everything from the fluorescent odhinis of Rajasthan to the South Indian sarees, textiles and the tribals of North East influence me.”
Malhotra started her career in the 90's by directing India's first travel show, Namaste India and Indian Holiday. For these shows, she travelled all over the country. Since, it was the time when mobiles, internet and computers had not pierced into the country, travelling to different areas was the only way for her to get ground research done in order to understand the subject really well.
“I have done ample lifestyle shows, where I produced and directed on television. However, in 2000, I moved from television to making documentaries. Being a director, I have scripted all my programmes and documentaries as well as edited them. I have also handled the camera and done photography,” she says. Malhotra's work also includes the Incredible India slogan and giving Doordarshan their first film as well as doing several documentaries for the Ministry of Tourism such as Colourful Rajasthan.
From 2000 onwards, Malhotra started painting as a hobby and in about ten years, she did several exhibitions. “I had collected plenty of canvases and my curator, Kishore Singh encouraged me to exhibit them. So my exhibition New Born was showcased at the India Habitat Centre in 2014. Post that, I did a solo show every year. In 2015, an international gallery picked me up and I took New Born to Singapore. Last year in Mumbai, I did another solo show,” she says.
The multi-faceted artist has a heart of gold. She donates all the profits from the sale of her art works to an NGO, Video Volunteers, who based out of Goa.
