Psychedelic Peacock Madhubani Paintings

This one has been handpicked from the studios of local artisans in the region in present-day Bihar. It is done on handmade paper paintings with pigments made from traditional ingredients such as blended lampblack and rice powder. The beauty of the Indian peacock has been captured to perfection in this abstract composition that relies on a repetition of its one-of-a-kind feather-motif. 

Peacock Madhubani paintings

A peacock with an elaborate, layered plumage constitutes the foreground. Its tiny body is made up of motifs, some of which are strategically filled in with paint, to create patterns that are seemingly hallucinogenic. 

A striking Banjara woman Oil Art on Canvs

A striking Banjara woman forms the subject of this oil. She is tall, as could be made out from the length of her decolletage and torso; and dressed in minimal clothing to beat the merciless North Indian heat as she goes about her chores around the house. Her roseate skin, as much of it as is exposed, shimmers in the sun.

striking Banjara woman

She stands at the threshold of her bamboo hut, moments before stepping in after a round of chores in the courtyard. Something has caused her to pause, as she looks out into the distance with those intense, kohl-rimmed eyes. Perhaps she is waiting to watch her makeshift fields crop before her eyes (makeshift, because jhuming or slash-and-burn cultivation is how Banjaras subsist), a surreal prospect; or her husband is working on the cultivated patch, and she is trying to gauge from his body language whether he is returning to her any time soon. How realistic is the stance of her fingers - especially as she grips the shoot next to her - and the fold of the loosely knotted ghagra against the raised thigh, with its exposed sweep of skin.