Shashi’s works offer an entirely
new perspective on the Sea and make us view the Sea as a living entity. The Sea
is the enigmatic female figure, who's waking hours are spent in the company of
her lover, the Sun. Her paintings speak of the pining between these two primal
forces of Nature, at times they are entwined in a passionate embrace, and at
others they convey a desperate yearning to end the separation. Her portrayal of
the tale of mystical romance between the Sun and the Sea is unique and precise.
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| Whorls of life |
Shashi’s paintings are characterized
by the sheer vibrancy and orchestration of colours. She believes that paintings
should evoke a sense of joy and pleasure rather than create dark and gloomy
vibes, as misery and suffering already exist all around us. In all her works
there is an underlying feel of a flow of energy and waves. She believes that at
the ultimate level, the Universe is made up of nothing but vibrations or waves.
These energy waves are constantly flowing and merging and re-emerging. Her
works invariably contain these cosmic waves.
How can an Indian artist escape
the rich cultural heritage of India? With the Sea as the theme, Shashi has
brought out on canvas the mythological aspects of the oceans. The genesis of
life and Sagar Manthan- the mythical churning of the oceans have, been
interpreted in an imaginative and fresh style.
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| The Genesis |
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Sagar Manthan
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Matasy Avtar
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The Cosmic Egg
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Although Shashi uses bright colours, there is always
a white space standing out in the mélange of colors. This whiteness, unique to
her paintings, denotes the 'all' of the particular painting. After all, white
is nothing but a fusion of all colours; white encompasses every colour. White
stands for Truth and Purity. White is the backdrop on which the entire story of
the Universe is played out. The intricate work against the backdrop of
whiteness conveys the story of the painting. In other words, while the painting
is a page, the white strip is a chapter and Shashi's paintings are a book which
narrates the story of the Sea as never seen before. This vision transcends
language and is almost never visible to the human eye.
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