A landscape, a view, a pretty picture

What the mind sees may be laced with tincture…

Tell us truly; when appreciating art, are you ever supremely confident that your interpretation of a painting is the same as the artist who made it? If you’ve got a way with words, you could possibly hold a discussion on how the two views align, and discover common ground in conversation. But many connoisseurs are but mute spectators who react not with a point of view, but to a connection they feel. It could be a tinge in the heart, a sweet flashback, an instant brightness of being.

Rouble Nagi’s newest series of landscapes evoke such emotion. The mood is bold, the message pungent. Picturesque beauty is apparent, but also seen is the juxtaposition of individual thought. Grass green and blue sky, you see at one point; blood red that invigorates, but doesn’t threaten in another. There’s sunshine in a shade that overpowers all else, yet the charcoal grey is brighter with character.

Impasto strokes may be likened to calligraphy, and their beauty compared to the Chinese alphabet, where the reader knows where the author began the composition of his stroke, and where he intended it to go. It’s not reading between the lines, it is understanding every move. Nagi’s audaciousness on canvas absorbs you, valiantly leading from the front. You’re never quite left to fend for yourself.

What makes the artist so confident about her view of nature? The answer lies in a heartening find: Rouble Nagi is a strong Indian woman of today, not one with passive desires or unfulfilled emotions, but with a view grounded in reality. She’s modern and urbane, as are her complexities. Love, heartbreak, duty, responsibility, ambition and desire all find a place in her world. She confesses to creating these pieces at a time when she was expecting her first child; a self-encompassing frame of mind no male can even claim to understand.

Go on; take in each frame with the contagious sense of strength it proffers. In all its simplicity, this is art that won’t just brighten up the wall, it’ll colour your day!