Well-known Indian painter Arpana Caur is showing some of her recent paintings in a one-woman show in London for the first time in seven years. The exhibition will be held at the October Gallery in London WC1N 3AL from 5th to 28th June 2003 after its opening by Baroness Usha Prashar C.B.E.

Since 1986 Arpana Caur has covered a variety of issues related to gender, violence, the inner quest for nirvana and the predicament of the contemporary woman. Some of her recent work feature political incidents, like 'Heart of Darkness', which depicts the Bamiyan Buddha incident in Afghanistan in 2000. But however deep and philosophical the theme, wit is never ruled out, which makes her art so enjoyable.

This show will have many canvases on view which will relive the legendary love of Sohni and Mahiwal, but there will also be paintings of a more personal nature like her 'Letters to Ghalib'. Sohni continues a series on the immortal lovers Sohni and Mahiwal, whose story is now a part of collective myth that is celebrated beyond the boundaries of Punjab. For Arpana the story is essentially about a woman's courage in love and the legend's contemporary relevance that's important. Arpana says that "Sohni is merely a take-off point...backbone of my series...but reflective of indomitable human spirit, of courage, of decision-making power." Elements like water, pots and scissors, featuring regularly on her canvases, turn up here again. "I'm obsessed with water", she confesses. "I first used water in my 1984 riots series, as a metaphor for death. But I've also used it to show time and regeneration."

Her art is remarkable in the simplicity with which she presents a radical view of the realities of our lives, using images that we are used to in a new context. Over recent years her works have become more symbolic and certain symbols keep appearing. Colour still dominates her work, but she has started to use more black in her works, which beautifully offsets the blues, browns and gold she likes to use.

Caur's strength lies in her ability to deftly juxtapose the modern with the traditional, both in her themes as well as her medium. Duality is seen through all her work, as Caur combines figurative and abstract art, monochromatic and polychromatic, the single image and its multiple reproductions, men and women, day and night, land and water. She also uses ancient and modern techniques as she has been influenced by a wide range of traditional art forms, like for example Godna paintings (tattooing skills), miniature paintings, Gupta works of art, Chola bronzes and provincial Mughal styles of the Deccan and the Himalayan foothills. She has collaboratively worked with folk artists and ended up evolving a visual expression that draws on folk motifs but expresses concrete present-day concerns as a sort of 'magical reality'. Folk art is essential to re-establish contacts with a continuity of culture even colonial times could not suppress, nor post-modernism obscure.

Shailja Vohora of India with Art, who has organised the show says about Arpana: "She is one of the most important contemporary Indian painters. What I like about her is that she is an artist with her own agenda, she is neither influenced easily nor does she change her expression with what is fashionable or just to please the market forces." The monumentality of her themes and their visual representation, gives her the historicity of classical artists. Caur's ability to always present us with a powerful humanism makes her an acute explorer of the paradoxes and passions of life. The entire exhibition will make you aware of the strength of her persona and how she sees her world.

ABOUT APARNA CAUR

Arpana Caur, of Sikh origin, was born and brought up in Delhi by her mother, the respected Punjabi writer Ajeet Caur, and grew up on the tales of Partition. Although she never trained as a painter, her works were chosen by M.F. Husain in 1974 for an exhibition at the capital's premier launching pad, Triveni. Following this success she went on to St Martin's in London to study art, but dropped out early, and only went back to exhibit her paintings there later on in her career. She had her first sell out show in Bombay in 1980 and has worked on the only mural on environment with German artist Sohnke Nissan. She has had solo shows in London, Berlin and Ottawa, and six international museums already house her collection. Among the private collectors, who have started collecting her works are the Rockefellers.

ABOUT SHAILJA VOHORA

Shailja Vohora runs India with Art and Interiors with Art. She has a diploma in Arts of India from the SOAS/ Sotheby's Institute and attended the Christie's Fine and Decorative Arts 1450-Present Day course. As early as 1991, she initiated a private exhibition and sale of Contemporary Indian Art in London, and assisted Christie's with their Indian-themed Sales in 1995 and 1996. She set up her company to promote Contemporary Indian artists and their work and has successfully staged exhibitions, workshops and lectures in India, USA, UK, and East Africa. A successful interior designer, she is known for her exquisite use of art in all her projects.

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