Dr. Suresh D Desai

Legendary Art Critic, India

Chaula Doshi : A creative tension between existence and artistic impulses

What had been an interest and a modest pursuit in the field of art in Chaula Doshi’s childhood turned into a passion for it in her late teens and later despite her having taken a different direction in formal education. A Commerce graduate and a qualified fashion designer, she has at a relatively young age now attained noteworthy recognition as a painter, photographer, installation artist, curator and one having the sensibility of a poet.

Painting was her initial calling. She saw glimmering colours of emotions within seeking expression. The calling particularly strengthened when she realized that her immediate milieu did not exactly encourage women to turn to artistic self-expression. She stubbornly turned the need for personal expression to collective expression. Her portraits of women are as much introspective as interactive with empathy. An aesthetic sense controls and tells her feminine frames apart. Suggestion rather than explicitness gives her paintings in the genre a distinctive identity. Portraiture of female faces with emotions underplayed is her forte.

Sharply defined features of the female faces, generic rather than specific, set in relief against relatively brighter colours of traditional outfits stand out and capture the viewer’s attention with their consciously subdued expression. A symbolic coiffeur or a red bindi on the forehead is shringar enough for an Indian woman. In her Shringar series if she adds accessory to it, it is minimal. This minimalism, combined with suggestion, distinguishes the artist in her nude portrayals as well. Rather than nudity itself, The focal point in them is not nudity, rather it is the human expression through it. It is through the stance and face that her nude portrayals become metaphors of feminine seclusion and pain even as the choice of this subgenre suggests disapproval of society’s perception of female gender.

Chaula does not remain confined to a genre. As an artist she explores beauty and harmony in the outer world. In her female frames, the ample empty space gets filled with simple folk art designs and motifs drawn from nature. They also creep on to the outfits of the characters portrayed. In her portfolio, there is a noticeable bunch of paintings on nature reflecting gradation of colours, a joyously growing existence and freedom of movement. The contrast subtly enhances the struggle for beauty and harmony within.

Painting is one among many of her mediums of expression. With an irrepressible urge to communicate, she turns to writing poetry. Her lyrical lines particularly in Hindi, pretty well chiselled, seem to spring from intensely experienced feelings and enigmatically they seek a range and depth. A zest for life and curiosity take her to hiking and travels, camera in hand. Images of heritage and nature with the interplay of light and shades through the angle prompted by her artistic vision abound in this visual medium. It is with a sense of perspective and spectacle that she can patiently work on installations with themes like empowerment of women she has close to her heart.

Conviction and an assertion of individuality anchor spontaneous expression in Chaula Doshi’s creations. In the midst of the unavoidable commotion and cacophony of modern life, she displays a remarkable daring in turning inward and tellingly pinpointing a creative tension between a mere sensory existence and an impulse for self-expression. Like her expressive visage, she gets distinguished with her style and communication. Looking deceptively simple, through the suggestion it makes, the core of her art reveals both sense and sensibility. With the reserves she has had of artistic expression, she promises a flow of continuing output inviting attention during the years to come.

Chaula has taken her works to prestigious events held in her own city, Ahmedabad, to big cities like Mumbai and Kolkata as also a

M. V. John

CEO & Creative Director, Iartco(Indian art company) and LazyLeoStudio, Kuwait.

Art sees no boundaries. And that’s why Chaula Doshi, Ahmedabad based renowned painter turned into various type of artwork. Her profile is big and series of work by her are many but we want to discuss her creative but non-painting side of art by one artwork.

This untitled artwork is solid and eye catching. It is an artwork of metal , SS and Ms. Monochromatic artwork is profound in its presentation. The way it settles in your eyes at first glance, that feeling is wonderful. Chaula Doshi has worked in semi-abstract form for decades. This particular artwork also falls in abstract category but more you look at this striking piece of creativity, you will find it more in a symbolic way. Though Chaula has not tried to convey some stuff through her art still this piece of work consists absolute clarity. Look at the sharp edges of the various shapes in work. That defines the clarity of the work. Abstract but straightforward.

Now we take a direct look at the work. At the top-left corner we see a duck like structure with its sharp beak and round head. Above it, a hollow pyramid is there. At top-right corner we see a six sided star and under that numerical four shaped figure lies. The descending side of the figure consists some small pyramids also. In the middle of lower half of the work hourglass shaped structure is there. And left to it, is a differently crafted and vividly shaped design. Roughly resembles with the balance holding by ‘Nyay Devi’ seen in court system of India. The background of this artwork is reddish brown in colour which is a rusted metal sheet and the shapes which adhere to it are scrape cut pieces of stainless steel.

Now, look at the whole work. The artist has played with shapes. Any object in this universe has definite shape and size. Shape and size both are like quarreling brothers. We remember some objects through their shapes and some are remembered through their gigantic or tiny size. Artist is more focused on shape over here. The size of the whole artwork is prominent but which attracts more is the various shapes we see in it. Why different shapes? Why does it not make any direct sense? Well, that’s called art.

Any art form is open for multiple interpretation. We will try to decode this one in our own way. Chaula has not taken elements from various spectrum of the world and made them representative of it. Whereas she has created a beautiful oddity. Its like all shapes were moving but Chaula clicked a photo and made a three dimensional work for us. We know pyramid as giant structure and one of the wonders of the world. How it was built in the era of almost zero technology is still a mystery to science and history. That pyramid is here with having hexagon shaped stars. Pyramid is empty. It is not tomb over here. Its like this pyramid through its hollow edges tries to capture the air. Duck which mostly resides and floats in water is bigger in size than pyramid. What makes that duck special is the two dimensional flat structure given to it. It is in its own space not coming out of the frame. Yeah, its nature. Nature made object will fit into its own space and man-made structure will ooze out.

Nature seems clearly in this work of art. Nature always prefers odd numbers. Humans always try to make thing even and life too. But nature loves odds. Count the similar shapes in this work. Pyramid is tringle in shape so it has three sides. The five pyramids in a queue are odd in number. There is one star and one duck. There are two parallel line on which squares are placed. Total squares are seven in number. There are interesting spirals of metals in design at left bottom. They are odd in numbers too. So the politically correctness with nature makes it more organic.

The design resembles with the shape of numerical four is interesting. What is it? Really a number 4? Or it is half Swastik? Svastik is the symbol for Aryan race. Used and misused by many prominent men in history. Swastika has a sacred place

Shujaat Mirza

Art Critic, India

Game of Lights


It gives me immense pleasure in introducing Chaula Doshi's exhibition, "Game of Lights", as it affords me an opportunity to put my observation of her works in relation to her journey as a natural born art practitioner.

Chaula Doshi's quest as an artist is a struggle for meaning, in a world that seeks to define the 'feminine' principle as a particular variant of the submissive, unopinionated, unspoken and meek form of womanhood and the primacy of selfhood is integrated in her journey and her art is an exploration of various facets of its celebration.

Being a self-taught artist, she comes without any preconceived notions and is free of the burden of living up to any set expectations of art and this makes her journey truly organic. In the present times, when art has become too didactic and removed from the primary aesthetic of visual delight and easy contemplation, she brings a refreshing simplicity to her works, which hides deeper layers within. As a writer, the genesis of her work primarily finds its first expression in her writings and then gets transferred on to the canvas as a re-drafted art that becomes a reflection of her thoughts.

In the current exhibition, "Game of Lights,'' she has transposed natural phenomena in its very bare outlines onto canvases made of Markin (madarpat), a multi-purpose grey cotton in unprocessed form, upon which she adds images by adding extra layers to the canvas from the same cotton material through clever patchworking. Since it is an easily available, versatile and inexpensive cloth, the idea is to show us how the small miracles of life that we enjoy are indeed simple pleasures we can partake of as and when we wish to, and cost us almost nothing.

The 3×3' and 5×5' canvases are backlit and come alive as an optical manipulation in the blacked out dark exhibition space and take us to a different hyper-realistic world altogether, and in doing so, make the exhibition a living ecosystem of pure sensory and visual pleasure, guiding the transition of life from darkness towards light, like a ray of hope.

We are in the lap of nature amidst an array of images,from a heron standing on a leg, a row of palm trees, the sun magnificently juxtaposed with a hummingbird, pine trees etc, and for a moment we are far away from our worries, standing in a wonderland. The avoidance of colors in the works represents a confidence of the artist in her journey as her period of colorful resistance ends and she has arrived at a place of serenity and peace, which she wants to share with us and her journey from representation of plain reality towards experimentation shows she has overcome the obstructions that she struggled to surmount..

This is a journey she shares with us through her art. I wish her all the best as she seeks new grounds in her artistic forays.

Abhimanyu Modi

Writer and Public Speaker, India

About GAME OF LIGHTS:

Children are afraid of the dark, when they grow up they may get scared of light. What do we call this? The circle of life or the cycle of light?
Light and dark together make us. What is dark? Devoid of light? Then what is light? Absence of dark?

The question was asked for the first time when big bang happened and the whole universe gets an illuminating beginning. Trillions of stars burst themselves igniting the grand opera of galaxy and yet universe remains dark.
This is exactly what our life is. We nurse our dreams in dark and wish them to be fulfilled in full light. Human journey can be explained into this flow: from lightless to enlightenment to gloom.

Ahmedabad based international artist Chaula Doshi highlighted the dual dance of light and dark on canvas. The first art ever created in human history was not by colours or metals but the rays and shadow. In this exhibition fluorescence is captured on canvas. Two inseparable elements, dark and light, are 'painted' in such a way that a new shining perspective towards world can brighten our vision. Herimmense creativity in these artworks provide a glaring window through which we can see the beauty of dusk and feel the dawn.

Chaula Doshi's work on light and dark answers our need to have a lighthouse in various forms of art so that we can see new horizons. Darkness has its own charm. Gleam can make wonders. Even moon does not show us his dark side. But art has the potential to understand the over rated light and over hated dark. Chaula Doshi creates a visual symphony bringing light and darkness together.

Let's treat our retina with poetic photons and dancing electrons.
Chaula Doshi's 'Game of Lights' has courage to defy and define the darkness and light in our journey called life.