About

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Dr. Archana Srivastava is an artist deeply rooted in the Indian history and culture and has, in the last two decades, experimented with different genres like figures, abstracts, landscapes and portraits.
While oil on canvas remains her preferred medium, she has adopted various themes for her solo exhibitions in the past.
In her solo exhibition titled “MONTAGE” in November 1999 at Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Mumbai, her seven-part narrative series on Budhha was devoted to Gautam Buddha, his life and his philosophy. This won her “Nirdhar Woman 2002” award presented by Dragon Palace Temple Trust, Kamptee in collaboration with Mother Noriko Ogawa Society, Japan.
With her exhibition titled “REFLEXIONS” in Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in October 2001, she paid tribute to various Indian classical poets and also portrayed verses by famous Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib.
Her painting exhibition- “DIVINITY” held in Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in December 2014 was her offering to Lord Krishna in which she portrayed various facets of Lord’s transcendental personality and divine acts.
In Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi during her painting exhibition- “DIVINITY-2” in October 2015, paintings portraying Bhagvadgita’s transcendental messages were displayed.
Over the years, during her participations in several editions of Harmony Art Show, Lalit Kala Akademi Annual Art Show, Art Today’s Art Show, Art Society of India Art Show, Bombay Art Society Art exhibition, ARTeCurate Art Show, Amazon India Art show, South Central Cultural Zone Annual Art Exhibition etc. she has experimented with different subjects and themes.
Her designing of publicity material of the anti-AIDS campaign of Government of Maharashtra was considered hard-hitting and impactful.
In October 2018 her art-works portraying ‘Sufi’ philosophy were displayed in Bombay Art Society, Mumbai in the Amazon India and Aura Art exhibition. Her paintings on creative portrayal on pivotal-events of the great epic ‘Mahabharata’ were also on display in an exhibition titled ‘Sankalan-A Collection’ in Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi from 20-24th October 2018.
She received the ‘Make in India Award' in ‘Creative Art’ category in December 2018 in New Delhi.
Her artworks were selected for display in ‘Shanghai International Art Fair’ that was held at The National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from 19-22 November 2020.
At the Cannes International Art Biennale , during the most important cultural event, Cannes Film Festival, her artworks were displayed from 20th to 22nd May 2022.
In November 2022 her artworks were displayed at FIRA INTERNACIONAL D'ART DE BARCELONA (Fira International Art Fair) organised by FIABCN at Maritime Museum, Barcelona which was held on 4th and 5th of November.
On 21st December 2020 she received “Woman of Excellence Award 2020” by Indian Achievers’ Forum.
On 25th May 2021 she was presented with “Collector’s Vision International Art Award” by Contemporary Art Curator Magazine, an international art platform.
On 7th August 2021 she was honored with “Power of Creativity Art Prize” by Contemporary Art Curator Magazine, an international art platform.
She is awarded LUXlife Global Excellence Award 2022 for ‘Best Contemporary Artist’.
‘The Collectors Art Prize’ in March 2023.
In April 2023 she was given ‘International Art Prize Leonardo da Vinci’ in Milan.
Her inclination towards culture and history stems from her academic training in history. She holds doctorate in “Socio-economic History Of Early-medieval India”, and has been a visiting faculty at various colleges of Mumbai University where she teaches social, cultural and religious history of Ancient and Early medieval Indian subcontinent.
Her works are included in many prestigious private and public collections within the country and abroad.
She is based in Mumbai, India and had an enthralling exhibition titled 'Spiritual Reflection' held in the Jehangir Art Gallery from 17th October to 23rd October 2023, which included paintings and installations as well.
With the idea of bringing about a sense of creativity & learning in the artists and creating opportunities for them, she has founded ArtSage. As Founder and CEO of her startup called ArtSage her vision is to help artists by providing resources, giving access to the technology to work at a faster pace, helping them upgrade their skills, giving them platform to sell their artworks, creating awareness about the value of their art in public through workshops and symposiums and enrich their lives as a whole.

EXHIBITIONS

Epilogue

“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others”
-Jonathan Swift

Art for me is a subtle form of expression. A vision that makes intangible tangible, makes complex subjects seem simple, practical and adaptable. Owing to my conviction to portraying the suggestive, I have adhered to the thematic and message-oriented art. Through my humble efforts, I try to delineate metaphorically, the non-obvious and allusive making it understandable.

The Series on Krishna & Bhagavad-Gita:

Being a practitioner of bhakti-yoga, I have special fancy for Krishna, His pastimes (leelas) and messages. Though I had been painting on ‘Krishna theme’ regularly ever since I was a child but in recent years I have felt compelled to portray Krishna and His messages extensively. It is said that what you feel very strongly about, comes out well on canvas and connects the viewers to the work.
With this idea, I have tried to portray various facets of Krishna’s divine personality and His transcendental messages contained in the philosophical masterpiece titled ‘Bhagavad-gita’. It is the most comprehensive statement of perennial philosophy. It is important that we discover meaning in the masterpiece for ourselves and our contemporaries.

Portrayal of Timeless Verses of Bhagvad-Gita

Every philosophical masterpiece contains two components. The first is period-appropriate and temporary, belonging to the beliefs and responses of the era of its birth. The other is ageless, eternal, enduring and imperishable, possessing new meanings for all following ages.
In Bhagavad-gita series I have tried to portray the timeless, imperishable and intricate messages through the use of forms which are tangent, transient and simple. It is said that you make things simple when you bring people to understand them. Making things simple is not simple. It is a translator’s work. It consists in understanding on behalf of others. As for any form of translation, you must be an expert of the two languages.
Saint Ephrem the Syrian, laying emphasis on making things simple, had said "Because it does things easily, simplicity resembles God who easily creates everything" It is said that:
“A good specialist can explain with precision. He can explain things as complicated as they exactly are. A good consultant can explain with simplicity. He can explain how doable things are "
In making things look simple the use of metaphor is very important as they make people understand new, unknown things in terms of what they know and they advance by the reasoning of description.
Making people comprehend the ‘Absolute Truth’ can be a laborious thing, but as the Indian saint-philosopher, Bhakti Vinod Thakur has said:
“If words can manifest beautiful thoughts, a watch can indicate time, a symbol may show us history, then why can’t a painting bring associations of higher thoughts and feelings related to the transcendental specific beauty of the personal Godhead?”
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Dr. Archana Srivastava