Venkat Raman
Auckland, June 2, 2017
One of the easiest tasks that a journalist can undertake is to review a painting exhibition- just publish three pictures of the exhibits and you have a 3000-words story.
But some painting exhibitions need to go beyond their brief and speak about the artist; especially if that artist is a teenager, who spends hours on end at her studio rather than hang out with her friends.
Great Blessing
Such children deserve our accolades for dwelling in the world of art. To see them paint, express themselves, spread goodwill and inspire awe among youngsters and elders in the society, is a great bless.
Those were some of the thoughts that ran through the minds of people who visited the Paintings Exhibition of 15-year-old old Eksimar (Simar) Sahni at Mount Roskill War Memorial Hall, located at 13 May Road, Mount Roskill, Auckland on Saturday, May 27, 2017.
Hues galore
Sponsored by Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust, the exhibition accounted for 35 paintings, all under the theme, ‘Colours of India,’ giving vent to the teenager’s impression of her homeland and its cultural and social characteristics.
Her parents Harneet Singh Sahni and Parmeet Sahni had justifiable pride in stating that their little girl completed a painting on the spot, just 15 minutes before the exhibition was inaugurated by National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, along with Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust Chairman Jeet Suchdev and Anne Marie Coury, an expert in Rongoa, a fast-disappearing traditional Maori medicine, which is stated to be taught orally by the current generation to the next.
The paintings on display revealed the innate artistic calibre of Simar, whose execution of paintings happen in considerably less time than the thought process that precedes them. Essentially, painters like her could spend a good part of their day contemplating on themes, colours and methods of executive; thereafter, the actual painting emerges like magic.
Establishing identity
Looking at her works, it is evident that Simar uses festive colour palettes to establish cultural identity, activate the surrounding space and lift the human spirit.
Colour combined with scale has transformative powers, which lets viewers have an experiential encounter with her works. The concept of simplicity allows for purity, which is rich in repercussion.
Painters like Simar believe in liberating their works from explicit representational contents. This youngster on the grow, is apparently interested in the notion of materiality in the physical, philosophical and theosophical senses. She explores materials like paint to create an ecstatic vision that overwhelms the viewers with a sense of mystery and emotion.
Like her parents, Simar often thinks of the needy and the unfortunate and has planned to donate money to an orphanage in India.
More of Simar coming
Interest in her paintings is now growing with the management of Old Fort Eatery, a Restaurant located at the Chancery in Auckland’s Central Business District has announced that it would host her exhibition of paintings on June 11, 2017 from 12 pm to 4 pm.
A similar event is being scheduled by members of the Indian community at the Town Hall in the South Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe, details of which have not yet been announced.
Simar’s Indian heritage allows her to methodology to bring traces of history and culture in here ‘Colours of India’ series and given some more time, she would mature to include spirituality as well, to achieve completeness in her art.
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About the Images in this Review:
- Eksimar (Simar) with some of her paintings
- Simar painting at the venue minutes before the opening of her Exhibition on May 27
- Strokes and shades that portray cultural identity
(Pictures supplied by Parmeet Kaur Sahni)
