“Art is the lie that enables us to realise the truth”
When art meets a quirky yet, good godly fun artist, it transforms into something out-worldly & beautiful. Meet Bakula Nayak! The mother of three cute children & wife to a great husband. In a world full of gigantic buildings that look picturesque & museums full of photos taken using DSLRs, Bakula comes as a sweet surprise. Painting since childhood, the self proclaimed artist, is according to us ‘The Artist’ to look out for.
Initially when we spoke with her, we addressed her as the Vintage Paper Doodler. To which she said, don’t call my art work doodling. And very rightly so. Her art work is a breath of fresh air in today’s day & age. Even though as a child she was heavily discouraged from pursuing her dreams to paint, her passion revived when her parents passed away. Like any other artist of the old days, Bakula, used her passion to keep the pain inside & express it through her art work. And guess what? It’s not the pain she expresses in her art work but her love for life!
The reason why we called her the Vintage Paper Doodler is because she paints on sheets, documents, stamps and anything old. Her art work borders on living life with love, compassion & peace. As she herself says,
“Make Art, Make Love, Make Tea”
So, without further ado, here’s a little something about her past.
Bakula an average young Indian was born to two wonderful yet, strict parents. After having done her schooling from India she shifted abroad to study further & work. Bakula has an undergraduate degree in architecture & an M.S in communications design from Pratt Institute, Manhattan. Her first break came when she joined a fragrance company in the States, after which she shifted to a comfortable job in L’oreal followed by Mikasa & Ralph Lauren. But the dollars & the cosy home didn’t matter to her much & her passion for art got revived when she visited Florida with her family.
Florida at that time of the year remained cold & wet due to heavy rains. But who knew that something as trivial as rain would add fuel to fire. Watching a few flamingos dance in the cold battering rain looked so magical that, Bakula, went shopping for paints, brushes & everything artwork at 10 in the night! Now that is dedication!
30 Second Window:
- Bakula uses old documents that date back to the 1800s & recreates them into beautiful pieces of art. Her artwork, mostly, has animals & birds hanging around everything human like an umbrella.
- Her paintings, individually, tell a story. Further, she asserts that paintings mean different things to different people.
- So, if at all you see two flamingos dancing under an umbrella, read between the ‘colours’! There’s always a story involved.
- Her paintings are not just inspired by the love we people tend to overlook but also border on telling a story on the various issues faced globally.
- One of her most interesting paintings include one that shows a mama polar bear with her baby cub sitting on a patch of ice melting slowly & steadily.
- Bakula loves using water colours since they are the only kind of paints that usually do not react too much with her collection of old sheets!
DforDelhi Recommends:
- That you head to her exhibition in Delhi taking place at Arpana Fine Art Gallery in Siri Fort Institutional Area starting today!
- The exhibition will continue till the 24th & we can’t wait to visit her & meet her paintings!
- Most of her paintings sell for anywhere between 25K to 35K, unless the paper used is really old. In which case the paintings sell for more than the above mentioned bracket.
Check out this cool photo story we put together for you!
So, head on to the exhibition in the weekend & don’t just stand there. Call out for Bakula. Or just look out for the most peppy & cheerful person in the crowd.
I am pretty sure Bakula will be the one giggling around, talking to her fans & lovers of her paintings!
When: 20th – 24th January
Where: Arpana Fine Art Gallery
Timings: 11:00 am – 07:00 pm
For Directions: Click Here
