“Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?" wrote John Keats, in the Letters of John Keats. And it was with a "world of pains and troubles" that Naina Maithani Kulkarni wandered down the Central Vietnam Hoi An, where local artists came to work and display their art. She spent her days sifting through local art, hoping to find something that resonated with her soul.
One day, out of the blue, she did. In a beautiful, old Chinese-style house, replete with lanterns and wooden floors, Tran Viet Son, a local artist, stood quietly before his canvas, hard at work. The abstract quality to his work caught Kulkarni's eye at once and she wandered in for a chat, hoping she had found a new teacher. "He told me he couldn't teach me anything, but that he would love to see me paint," said Kulkarni.
The 2009 economic downturn had taken with it Kulkarni's dreams of a career in finance. "I spent four months wondering what I wanted to do with my life, for I was quite sure of one thing — it wasn't finance!" Instead, she found her way to the prestigious Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi, where she found a job as its manager. "They stocked only the masters - Husain, Raza, Souza. I spent my time learning about them and their work." Raza's abstracts left a profound impression on Kulkarni, which went on to shape her experiences in Vietnam, where she moved to be with her husband, a pastry chef.
Thus, it was in Vietnam's Hoi An that she first tried her hand at painting, attempting to capture a sunset. "I couldn't do it," she said. "Abstracts, I felt, gave me more freedom as an artist." Contemporary art in Vietnam, she said, was dominated by landscapes, with artists drawing from their immediate natural surroundings. "When he noticed my discomfort, Son told me to do what appealed to me." She returned to the gallery each day, painting and rounding things off over a cup of tea with Tran Viet Son. "He sold my first painting, for $150! After that, I kept painting and he kept selling!"
She returned to India with her husband but breaking into the art world presented a fresh challenge for an artist without training or backing of any kind. "It was my husband who pushed me to it," Kulkarni smiled. When her painting, Plumes, found notable success at an auction in Bengaluru, she found just the push she needed.
Reminiscences appear to play a significant role in Mountain Musings, for guests will also be served a glass of juice made from the buraansh flower, a specimen of rhododendron found in Dehradun.
Her show at Sublime Galleria, Mountain Musings, is a return to her childhood in Dehradun – “Growing up, I never observed the beauty of my surroundings, or the magic of the mountains around me,” she said. “Life in the hills is a simple, we don’t have much, but we make it work. I wanted to return to that simplicity."
Reminiscences appear to play a significant role in Mountain Musings, for guests will also be served a glass of juice made from the buraansh flower, a specimen of rhododendron found in Dehradun. Local legend has it that a young woman, who had been married off to a family from another village in the hills, was allowed to return to her hometown for a day to see her dying father. She spends her night at home dreading her return and in the morning, the beautiful young woman, unable to bear her sorrows, collapsed and died. “According to legend, the buraansh flower bloomed where she died. I can relate to her story in so many ways, it inspired one of the paintings in the series as well.
“According to legend, the buraansh flower bloomed where she died. I can relate to her story in so many ways, it inspired one of the paintings in the series as well.
Kulkarni, who learned, through her guru, Son, that beauty must be shared, simply hopes that people find some peace in her canvases. “We have all felt pain and longing and love. We all have scars. I hope that, by returning to a time of simplicity through my art, I can help people find some measure of peace, just like I did.”
What: Mountain Musings
When: June 2 onwards
Where: Sublime Galleria, The Sky Bridge, 8th Floor, The Collection, UB City, Vittal Mallya Road
