Asha’s golden touch

Artist Asha Srinivas is to celebrate her 50th birthday with an exhibition of her work highlighting the beauty and grace of women.

Her show entitled ‘Alpana – 2 Designed to Decorate’ will be held this Friday, on her birthday, at the Albareh Café in Adliya and will feature 25 paintings created in the Indian art form, Tanjore – a traditional form of painting originated in the South Indian native town of Thanjavur during the reign of the Marathas in the 16th Century.

She said: “Traditionally, Tanjore paintings depict the various gods and goddesses of the Hindu religion. For the exhibition, my second one on the island, I decided to use the same medium with a different subject as I hope it will appeal to a wider audience.”

Through her work, she portrays the essence of women from different eras and cultures. She said: “I chose women as the subject because I was fascinated by the many paintings of ladies dressed in beautiful costumes and jewellery I came across during a trip to India when I visited several old palaces.”

Her collection features subjects including Mughal princesses, Egyptian goddesses, Indian village girls, dancing girls and princesses as well as versions of the ‘demure women’ often illustrated in the paintings of renowned Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma.

Mrs Srinivas began work on her current theme more than three years ago, a month after her first exhibition, which was also held at the Albareh Café. She enthralled the directors with her talent and became the first Indian to hold an exhibition at the gallery. She said: “I received a lot of positive response about m at the time. The local artists are very encouraging and few even suggested that I take my work and showcase it abroad.”

Mrs Srinivas, from Adliya, has lived in Bahrain for 16 years. Although her interest in art was inspired by her grandmother, she began tapping into the skills of Tanjore painting more than 15 years ago after being introduced to it by family members while at home in her native Bangalore, India.

The process of creating a Tanjore painting is long and involves the utmost care and precision. Mrs Srinivas explained: “I first prepare the board – which takes three days, as it involves covering a plywood board with a muslin cloth and rubbing a special paste to smooth and polish it. I then draw on it and I do the gesso work where I paste gold foil on the painting and inlay it with semi precious stones and finally paint it.”

Her husband, Srinivas, 55, is no artist, although structural drawing comes as part of his occupation as the general manager at BFCC Foundation Construction Company. Mrs Srinvas said: “He has always been very supportive of my work and this exhibition is his gift for my birthday!”

The couple has a 19-year-old son, Anirudh, a university student. The eagerly anticipated exhibition will be inaugurated by Indian ambassador, Mohan Kumar.

The paintings are priced between BD100 to BD350.