Art lovers at Trishla Jain’s exhibition

The word ‘art exhibition’ usually brings to mind a degree of formality and seriousness, but this one was an art exhibition with a difference. The sense of formality was immediately dispelled as one entered the home-like, white, open spaces where young artist Trishla Jain’s pop up exhibition “Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies” was on display.
The vibrant, pop colours brought the place alive, and guests repeatedly used the words ‘young’ and ‘happy’ for the work.
Trishla greeted everyone at the door with a warm namaste, and took them around. Of particular interest to the guests was the installation “Balderdash”, with a chessboard placed on it, where more than one visitor lingered, some even for a game! The work was in bright, pop colours, with the text on it reflecting Trishla’s musings, moods and literary influences.
While everyone was unanimous in the opinion that it was among the most ‘alive’ collections of art they’d seen, their opinions seemed divided on some other points – while some said that her work showed maturity, the younger crowd said that the work was ‘fun’. Stylist Pernia Qureshi said, “The work is very young – very girly, in fact – and I think it will appeal to young women.” Sunil Bharti Mittal’s son Shravin commented, “I love what’s written on the paintings. The work is very trendy, the kind of art that would appeal to our generation, even to those who don’t ‘get’ art.”
From among the older crowd, the assessment was a little different. Designer and artist Gunjan Arora, who’d seen Trishla’s first show, “That Freshness”, said, “I’m very happy to see that she’s moved away from just brush strokes to the use of words, which is very interesting.” Animal rights activist Ambika Shukla commented, “I find the work very original, very happening, and actually very Indian. It’s this kind of combination – the sort reflected in text like, ‘Prada meets pranayam’ – that I’m finding interesting.” And artist Niladri Paul took an artist’s view of the work when he said, “My eye is held by the colours – I can’t concentrate on the text. Behind the words is a perfect balance of colour and texture. I find that amazing, because it’s difficult to play with light and dark colours together and bring them into a kind of harmony.”
Chandna Arora and Kashika Saxena