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Painter Madhvi Dhanak’s nature-inspired, colourful canvases, which are being exhibited at Harbour Gate, are making a memorable mark on art lovers from across the kingdom
The exhibition, entitled Impressions, features 18 vibrant pieces ranging in size and depicting images that have touched or inspired her throughout her life.
“I have been painting and drawing florals and portraits since I was very young,” said Madhvi, who is an artist and an art tutor living in Manama. “From the very beginning, it has always been exciting, even surprising, to see a likeness appearing on the paper before me.
“I am a thorough nature enthusiast, very instinctive, love to paint anything that inspires me or challenges me such as the feathers of a bird, a colourful peacock, creases and folds of a silk cloth lying on a table, a mysterious starry night, an Indian lady draped in a beautiful saree and so on. I also like adding textures and natural light which in turn adds glory to the piece!”
The showcase, which is the 41st Art at the Harbour exhibit, is located in the ground floor entrance within the Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) and will be open to the public until this Saturday.
Visitors adore her use of colours and mediums which Madhvi finds plays a major role in her creative process.
She said: “Colours play a big role in art and in our lives too. There would be no life without art! It has the power to heal and soothe our life paths. An art piece is a combination of lines, forms and colour. Colour psychology suggests that different hues can evoke psychological reactions. They have an impact on moods and emotions because of their intensity, thus creating some experiences and influences. I always encourage others either to practice art or own art. Life is beautiful with it!”
Madhvi has been teaching children and adults for the past 21 years at workshops, festivals and so forth. She has demonstrated the use of different mediums as she has been practicing painting in various mediums as well. She experiments with a range of mediums including oil, acrylics, pastels and watercolours to create a distinctive style.
“The artist’s personality is what reflects in their art,” she explained. “Recently, I have fallen in love with watercolours and you will see a lot of my watercolour works in my exhibition.”
Madhvi, originally from India but born and raised in the kingdom, picked up the creative form when she was in fourth grade. Her teacher asked her to create a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi for a school exhibition. She was surprised to see her own work being exhibited which encouraged her to paint and draw even further.
Madhvi achieved her Masters in fine arts in Scranton, Pennsylvania and has participated in several showcases, festivals and group exhibitions. She had won an award from BAPCO in 1990 for her work on “Save our Environment”. Some of her Bahrain shows included her staging a solo exhibit in 2010 called Natures Glory, participating in a group event in 2010 entitled The Art of Jazz, having a display at Al Aali Art Fest in 2015 and 2016 and participating in the 9th Annual Art Exhibition in 2020.
These are just some of the exhibitions. She also recently completed an ‘Art and Ideas: Teaching with Themes’ course in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
To find out more about Madhvi’s art, you can visit www.madhavidhanak.com.
