Breaking religious and culture boundaries with brushstrokes in India

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
By Medha Dutta
Artist Madhvi Parekh sits in front of her painting of the Last Supper
HAUZ KHAS, India---Madhvi Parekh is not your run-of-the-mill folk artist. Inspired by her artist husband, this 74-year-old painter picked up the brush only after her marriage. She borrows heavily from the folk art form of Gujarat—she hails from Sanjay, a small village in the state—and is what one would call ‘a contemporary artist’. At the ongoing exhibition at the Delhi Art Gallery Modern in Hauz Khas—which will continue till November 30—a retrospective of Madhvi’s works has been put together. The artist smiles, “As a child I was drawn to Christianity as I had some Christian friends. Later, when I visited the Holocaust museum in Israel, I walked out very disturbed. Just outside there was a small, peaceful church. It seemed the opposite of all the hatred and atrocity. The image of Jesus attracted me and I started drawing him.” [More]
Madhvi Parkeh’s “The Last Supper” in 2013