Emotions on collage

Iconart Gallery presents an exhibition of collages by Neha Khaitan, which explores the real-life experiences with different collages. Hailing from Kolkata Neha Khaitan has settled in Hyderabad for five years. “I am a B-Tech graduate and a Bharatanatyam dancer. I was very much involved in art since childhood because my mother was an art lover. She used to take me to all the art shows.”

The artist shared, “This is my first exhibition in Hyderabad and I have displayed 17 collages. These paintings took me two years to create a perfect structure and shape. I have also spoiled many collages but this 17 are the best collages. As this is my first exhibition I am glad that I received a good response from the people.”

Explaining about her concept of work, she said, “This all is from my general experiences. They are my observations triggered with my imagination. I have put together different composition using different images.

It is mostly connected with my daily life experience and some books I might have read. I also did some surreal art; these compositions might not be very realistic. Collage is the best way to express and that’s why I chose to exhibit collages here.”

“There are three collages, which are my favourite – ‘Books – uniquely portable magic’ in this illustration I depict the depths that a book can take one to. The knowledge is always what one carries along wherever one goes and in that sense books are a uniquely portable magic. Second collage is ‘Melancholy – A broken heart hides treasures’, this is an illustration based on a saying by Shams Tabriz.

A heart is shown encaged in thorns, which allude to one’s pain and sorrow, and when split open, flowers emerge pointing to good memories, which are hidden underneath. The third is ‘Fragile’, is about an apt depiction of the weakness of human beings. There are times when we are perturbed and our demons awake, with even a little provocation just like “The Butterfly Effect” she adds.

“This is a digital medium, which I have used from different sources such as online articles, newspaper articles then I cut and put them together. And, there are some places where I have used ink and paper. This is also something I try to impose in my collages”.

What: Imprint
Where: Iconart Gallery, Banjara Hills
When: until August 3 between 11.30am and 7pm

By Heena Mishra