Jenny's MokshaShots

I was stunned out of my morning reverie by what I initially thought were Buddhist prayer horns, but actually were the sound of fumigators. "Fumigator" has such a deadly ring to it. Moving from spirituality to the thought of a smoky death in a moment was the highlight of my walk.

Another surprise was seeing two of Jenny Bhatt's paintings from her MokshaShot series at an art exhibition at the Mumbai University convocation hall this evening. Ironically, I had chatted with her about her work at the Museum Gallery last Sunday. This particular series of works reminded me of Rorschach inkblots and art from the psychedelic era. However, the colour combinations she uses are contemporary, and the ambiguity of the shapes, reminiscent of water colour strokes, create a range of references to femininity, fusion/creation, and sexuality. The stretched ovals remind you of mandalas and the primordial egg; the influence of Tantric art is apparent.

Jenny includes golden intertwined lines that wobble in and out of myriad eggs, accompanied by odd creatures that look like cartoons of aliens or insects. Have you seen spilled petrol on the ground as it breaks-up into the colours of a rainbow? Don't these lines remind you of that pool of petrol?