When Art Ives in Heart

It is not easy to create a signature style for yourself when your mind is full of the imprints of Art Maestroes. But Jaya Baheti with her free flow of brush has done that.

Realism is too stark a nudity for an aesthetic eye to complete its search for beauty and truth even if the same are ‘created’. The membranes of a creative palette transgress into stony entities hurting the very eye that watches it with heightened intensity. A diaphanous touch of rustic streaks awakens the surreal in the real. Artist Jaya Baheti’s oeuvres seem to be radiating with the same. The rustic landscapes coalesce with brush strokes that give them almost an abstract feel. Juxtaposed to this softness are her geometric opuses of human figures with too-large heads. 

Beginner’s strokes

Born in Pune Jaya is a Hyderabadi now, her marriage has brought her to the Char Minar City. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pune. “I began with my solo show at Chitari Art Gallery and it was an astounding success amongst the Art connoisseurs. So many art lovers came to the exhibition.” It was her father’s friend artist Murli Lahoti who influenced her a lot during her growing years.

Inspirations and influences 

Art seems to have known the address of her home. A young Jaya would see her mother do everything in an artistic way. She would be enthralled to watch her arranging plates on the dining table and fresh flowers in beautiful patterns. “Even the food that she would serve would be decorated artistically with an array of colourful vegetables and sprigs of herbs,” says the artist. 
“I am a free soul. I let this freedom flow on my canvas,” informs Jaya. No wonder she has a vast mélange of genres that keep finding ways into her brush strokes be it with acrylics, water-colours, mixed media, ceramics, glass, charcoal, ink or wood. Her artistic mood moulds these into an aesthetic object. 

In one of her paintings titled ‘Moon Bath’ she put a silver coin as the moon in the sky that gleams against the dark contours of secrets. She has curated many art exhibitions across the country and her art exhibitions have been held in many other countries.

On Art in a market hit by recession

A luxury item that any Richie Rich of the metropolis considers an objet d’art to be in times when the economic recession is gaping at all markets. Art aficianadoes keep adding in their collection only the colossal names. Other buyers maintain reticence while trying to keep the strings of their purses tight. Jaya has quite a different take on this, “In Hyderabad, you see an art event happening every day. Art galleries are coming up. Hyderabad is a good market. Buyers and rains come all of a sudden so why be despondent in predictions?”   

Arty affairs

Her strokes pick a drop of water and make rivulets flow surrounding which grow verdant forests – rain soaked. And the vision gets trapped in the greenscape that swirls as strokes of abstract elements blending with finesse in what is present and hidden from the eye. That’s how come her exhibitions have travelled to Art Mosaic Gallery, Singapore; Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi; Bombay Art Society, Bombay; Taj Deccan, Hyderabad and in many other renowned art galleries of the country. Her upcoming shows are to be held in Germany, New York and London.