Bollywood Singer turned painter Chandana Dixit inaugurate her painting exhibition in the presence of noted celebrities like Boman Irani,Anup Jalota & singer Pooja Pawar at Jahangir Art Gallery

Bollywood Singer turned painter Chandana Dixit inaugurate  her painting exhibition  yesterday in the presence of noted celebrities like Boman Irani,Anup Jalota & singer  Pooja Pawar at Jahangir Art Gallery

(Chandana Dixit) 

Heart to Heart!!

As an Indian child growing up in Africa, singing and drawing were my favorite pastimes. My skills and passion were noticed by my mother, and my training was started as soon as we moved back to India. I graduated with a degree in Graphic Design (GD Art), from the “Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya” institute in Pune. At this time, I was oil painting as a hobby while simultaneously singing and winning music competitions.

Upon completing college, I got into playback singing for many superhit movies, albums and live performances. Art took a back seat for a while. After getting married and moving to the USA, I was given another opportunity to pursue art in a serious and intense way. I enrolled into a fabulous college called the “Gage Academy of Art”. I enrolled in their classical Atelier program, and also took special workshops with many American masters, namely Martha Mayer Erlebacher, Tony Ryder, Geoffrey Lawrence, Carlos Madrid, etc.

My technique of painting is a fusion of the old and the new. I strive to create depth in my work by using traditional indirect painting techniques of the (west) old masters, applying oil paint in many translucent layers to give the paintings a rich, radiant appearance. To make my paintings look more interesting, I also use contemporary techniques, in which paint is applied in a looser more experimental and intuitive manner. I would describe myself as a contemporary realistic painter. I also paint in encaustics, using wax and oil paints to create a very interesting stylistic effect.

My subject matter is quite varied. I paint figures, still lives, and of course, landscapes. As it is human nature to seek variety and explore the depths of our own possibilities, I have had my own artistic phases in which I have been inclined to paint different types of subject material. I've become very aware of the ways in which art making has always helped me navigate an often confusing and chaotic world. It is a silent form of conversation - communication between the painter and the viewer. And it gave me a voice when I had none. I would be lost without it. I hope my work manages to communicate and connect with the viewer, as well as make a place their heart.

Being a singer at heart, the artist in me is always trying to find the song in the painting. The note lines, the rhythm shapes, and the beautiful colors of imagination and reality merge with each other to create timeless pieces of artwork. My landscapes don’t belong to any specific region, but they reflect on places I have travelled and of course, my imagination. That helps me give them a timeless look and take the viewer on a journey. The spirit in me takes off to find the light in my landscape. Sometimes I might play my song softly and slowly in a minor key, and the next song might be loud and fast, played in a major key. My goal is that my painting should resonate with passion, fervor, and intensity!

"The Vibrant Earth"

 Nature has always fascinated me and is undoubtedly the most important element of human existence. All the elements of nature, be it the sky, land, water, trees, and flowers have a very calming, purifying and inspiring effect on our senses. There is so much story matter in its realm. As soon as you bring in the aspect of atmosphere to it, a story immediately starts to get created.

Whether it is a time of day, like a sunrise, sunset, star filled sky, or a cloudy day, or whether it is a time of year, like summer, winter, spring, autumn, or the monsoons, they all tell their own stories. The beauty of the valley of green, graced by the river of life, dancing across the horizon into its journey towards the sun; the calming lull of the water in the rivers, lakes, oceans, and seas and the changing of seasons are the most symbolic metaphors of our lives, the changes in weather expressing the different phases. Nature is shaped by its own surroundings and its own sense of direction. The rough, tough, serene, and sublime nature is moving, calming and spectacular. It presents an unending cycle of life.

Color, movement, light, space, and form create a vision of life and death. When we make our way through the landscape, we are touched and altered by its mood, its light, and the changing weather. We inhabit and it inhabits us. The harmony between both the atmosphere and the elements create life and emotion in the landscape. Their interplay has always fascinated me. As atmosphere is everything in our culture, it is called "Ras". The quest is always to find the 'Ras' in art.

My landscapes are both real and imagined. That gives them have a timeless look. I strive to capture the emotional quality of a place (whether real or imagined) with clarity and sensitivity. Each piece has a palpable atmosphere and a sense of immediacy and poignancy. There is a feeling of life being arrested in that single moment, as well as a quality of timelessness. Painting the landscape helps me experience the spirituality and divinity in nature. I like to create a sense of place, that they are somewhere, but nowhere in particular. My goal is to not paint living beings, but to paint life into my works and create an emotional connection that will inspire and elevate my viewers. I hope they walk away with a sense of hope, peace, and optimism.

Enjoy the journey of "The Vibrant Earth"