Ffover, a brand that houses luxury items of house décor, recently hosted an exhibition of Paris-based artist and fashion designer Poonam Malpani Dhemre’s works, called Vernissage by Poonam at their Haute Street outlet.
Born and brought up in Kolkata, Poonam will be showcasing 11 artworks which she created in Paris, where she settled down after marriage. “I was three years old when I started painting but painting on canvas happened with Paris, in 2011-2012, a phase when I was trying to negotiate with the situations I was facing then, with no work permit,” says Poonam.
“I mostly do acrylics, with a mix of the traditional Indian motifs and patterns, inspired from embroidery, mehendi or even sari prints, along with 11 years of contemporary Parisian art that I have experienced,” the mother of a six-and-a-half-year-old adds.
Poonam is a self-taught artist, who tries innovative ways to fuses together her knowledge of fabric, textures and patterns, with acrylic pour technique, palette knife work, stencil work and sometimes just finger painting, to depict varied themes.
“My dad had a sari printing factory, so I grew up with colours, without realising that I know so much about them and then NIFT happened, which broadened my horizon. My inspiration lies mostly in nature, especially the sky,” she tells us.
“But I don’t plan my works. I am very intuitive and instinctively know what to use and how. I started with the canvas and gradually branched out in body painting, wall and ceiling murals too,” says the artist, who has been invited to various art festivals across Europe, especially for her excellent body painting art.
Poonam, herself is very spiritual and very few people know that she is a dancer too, who teaches Bollywood dancing, and her works reflect movement, sometimes of colours and at others, of energy, whether still or mobile.
While sunset takes shapes in the work named Equinox, another work called Glow has been created with mixed media on canvas. The beautiful narraow panels with patterns in golden paint, resembling sari prints and embroidery, seems to be radiating out from a central point. Another work called Pulse uses mixed media on canvas to imitate the central radiating point motif further, but this time in colour. One can also find the presence of a Doordarshan TV on canvas, fused with patterns found on printed saris in a work called Colourbar.
Bloom captures the mood of spring with bottle bottom pour in bright hues, resembling flowers and Les filles, is a unique pattern painted solely by the index finger. Each of the work carries a personalised message by Poonam, on how the work was created and what inspired her to make it.
Vernissage by Poonam will be on display at Ffover between 11 am and 9 pm