Dec 20, 1999

Manisha Parekh, 35
Printmaker/Installation Artist

PRINCESS OF TIDES

With both her parents being well-known Indian painters, Manisha Parekh has been a part of the Indian art scene all her life. But unlike many other artists' children who take to art by inheritance, Parekh has always been her own person both as a woman and as an artist. Trained at M.S. University, Vadodara, and Royal College of Art, London, she has emerged as one of the more significant young Indian artist.

Whether it's her craftily-executed graphics of articles of daily use or her more ambitious works in the area of conceptual, site-specific installations, Parekh brings a passion for visual organisation, perfection of form and an off-beat vision to her work. Will she stick to conventional works on paper and canvass or drift into the current multi-media installation trend? "I am open to everything ," says Parekh. "But I don't plunge into anything just because it is the fashionable thing to do."

Surprise: this lady does not float on passing tides. She swims across them to discover new islands.

-S. Kalidas

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