Spotlight on Nikita Parikh

In contrast with other women artists of her time, there is neither idea of feminine dominance nor feminine vulnerability in Nikita Parikh’s work. Nikita ingeniously bypasses the classic feminist issues of equality and social justice simply by taking inspirations from traditional Indian art such as Pichwai paintings and Shekhavati Murals. Born to a religious Vaishnava family, Nikita received MFA from M S University, Baroda. Like many Indians, Parikh in her childhood imbibed a rich storehouse of mythical and magical narratives. As an artist, she carefully reconstructs Indian myths and fables mingled with nostalgia to achieve an atmosphere of alternative fantasy in her work. While one cannot categorize her works as naïve art, there is a definite and deliberate naivety and innocence in her unique style which is reminiscent of modern masters such as Ken Kiff, Chagall, Miro and Kandinsky. Oddity of form, clumsy application of color and a tinge of humor in her earlier work has evolved into subtlety of statement gaining mature adaptability of style where Western influences do not remain as alien in Indian context. She often embellishes her work with playful, narrative captions that add ambiguity more than giving a clue to the images shown by her. In the current series “Sab Bhumi Gopal Ki’ she fabricates serene visual statement with repeated images of cows and flowers with traditional block printing methods in the composition to symbolize Lord Krishna’s Gokul with many cows and vegetation. In the course, she has subverted the modernity of high art practices by bringing traditional craft practices and material as Post-Modern art practice. This statement also merges the differences between the high art and craft practices, highlighting the labor involved in traditional artistry.