Dec 20, 1999

Anjum Singh, 32
Painter

BRIGHT SPARK

With her dusky looks and a 1000-watt smile, this petite miss may look a trifle playful and bubbly. But ask anyone who knows what the future holds for Indian art and they will invariably include Anjum Singh's name in their list. Trained in Santiniketan, Delhi and Washington, Singh shows a flair for bright colours and sensual surfaces that is not in the least forced or self-conscious.

When she began displaying her paintings about 10 years ago, her work was, as she puts it, "strongly figurative suggesting narrativity". But since then the sheer feel for colour and texture has led her to explore a direction that leads her towards delving forms for their own sake rather than to tell a story. Singh's is a world of luminous plasticity. "I am not certain about the future of the figurative element in my work," she says, "but I do know that I wish to paint the simplicity of space with or without form."

-S. Kalidas

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