By Saroj Kumar
Shikha Pande, a Lucknow based budding artist, adds a new feather in her hat last Friday as she wone prestigious AIFACS award for her water colour caricature tittle ‘Milan.’ She received a cash prize, medal, and a citation at inaugural ceremony of 18th all India water colour exhibition, organized by All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS) at its gallery in New Delhi.
An alumnus of Lucknow College of Arts and Crafts, where she did BFA and MFA, Shikha own a unique brush of water colour soaked with emotions. She always amazes art lovers by her experiment with colours and threads of emotions running in the contemporary society. Her award-winning caricature ‘Milan’ (union) is an example of her expertise in the genre.
In ‘Milan’, a male partner is standing with backside of his female partner and gripping her eyes with his hands perfecting 100-degree jesture of love, well supported by joyful background of colours.
At a glance you are full of joy to see the scene and sequence of life passes through almost every individual but shock to see blank faces of the couple depicted in the caricature next moment. Just a word you spell out about this creation is ‘erroneous’ but its not in reality.
‘‘Milan’ is a mirror image of present suffocating foggy environment engulfing every nook and corner of the society where nucleus of life is encircled by darkness layered with ills like hatred, bigotry, high inflation, unemployment, poverty, social and economic inequality, and fluid of love and joy is drying out of the hearts,’’ told Shikha.
Really, Joy and sorrow, two sides of a coin can not be seen same time but Shikha did this impossible task possible through her creation ‘Milan.’ Good job Shikha!
(Saroj Kumar is freelance journalist and writing for several publications.)
