Art Musings presents a rare treat for art lovers in the city of Mumbai with ‘Anjolie The Wanton Fabulist’, a solo exhibition that brings together recent works of renowned artist Anjolie Ela Menon. The exhibition coincides with the 2024 edition of the Mumbai Gallery Weekend, a robust art event in the city, which opens on 11 January ’24.
Menon’s art has incorporated the resonances of diverse cultures. It was the Romanesque church imagery and the brilliance of a Byzantine palette that caught her imagination and continues to impact her work to this day. Menon’s work is well known for the translucent textures which she creates by using thin glazes on Masonite. Beneath the overlaying of an unmistakable patina her invisible brushstrokes glimmer with a rare radiance. In this body of works, through the mastery of her technique, Menon creates images that come alive but continue to exist in an existential time-warp.
Menon’s protagonists are mythological figures as well as the ordinary people whom she portrays in her unique style, with great sensitivity. Her paintings, through their texture and stunning coloration, convey the wonder of breath-taking transmutations. Also on display are Menon’s Divine Mothers, which capture all the nuances and magic of motherhood. She takes the viewer on a visual journey drawing from mythology; Yashoda and Krishna, Mariam and the infant Jesus, Parvati and Ganesh. However the divine women are often modelled after the women near her studio in Nizamuddin Basti, lovingly nurturing their young