Indian artist Rajul Mehta's exhibition opens April 19, 2017, at ION Art Gallery. Titled ‘Don’t Pressure Me’, the exhibition illustrates the everyday pressures which define the lives of most women.
Drawing on a relatable theme that often finds pictorial representation in the more obvious presentation of womanhood, Mehta paints the many faceted lives of women from all walks of life. Her solo also deals with the trajectories of successful women.
"We all have pressure cookers inside of our heads," says Mehta. "This constant need to juggle, to meet deadlines; as pressure boils we blow off steam, we let go and we start all over again. Our lives are really just a constant balancing of our many roles and relationships in a world that expects us to be a certain way and perhaps to even behave a certain way."
As a mother, an entrepreneur and an artist, Mehta knows these worlds well – she knows the familiarity of the turf that is womanhood, writer Deepika Shetty said in a foreword. With quiet grace and elegance, Mehta seeks the truth beyond perfection. The colourful canvases are centered by an installation work, creating a pressure cooker-like space.
The stories that unfold through the colourful canvases and sculptures do not just end there. This body of work invites the viewer to question their own position and role in society, for art is meant to go where other mediums sometimes cannot.
