Subodh Maheshwari M.F.A — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

May 1

May 1 Subodh Maheshwari M.F.A

Biography
Subodh was born in Uttar Pradesh, India. She earned her Masters of Fine Arts at the University of California, Irvine where she won the Regional Fellowship Award. Subodh has participated in many national and international shows while her paintings have received awards in a variety of categories. She was apart of the fourth Cosmopolitan Exhibition in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul South Korea. Fontana awarded Subodh with special recognition for her benefaction to the art community in 2014. In 2015 Subodh was the recipient of the prestigious Bharat Guarav Award for her contributions to Art and Culture in India, and won the exclusive 60 Masters Award in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Her art hangs in many public, private, and museum collections worldwide. “My paintings give me space to feel and express my visual delight in color, shape and form.” -Subodh Maheshwari

Her artwork, accented by Hindi and Sanskrit passages is a fusion of Eastern symbolism and Western composition influenced by Rajasthani and Mogul art. Highly individual in style, her work is described as diverse, emotional, mysterious, personal, spiritual and humorous. A respected art educator since 1986, she is highly active in the California art and education communities.

Artist Statement

Subodh has been an artist since birth. She began creating art as a young girl in India, making rangoli (Indian floor art). Growing up Subodh always had a deep fascination for colors, especially those occurring in nature. Her work, which is inspired greatly by nature and her childhood has matured to reflect her collective life experiences, social issues, life and death. Throughout her career Subodh has drawn inspiration from other artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh and Renaissance-era art. Her artwork, accented by Hindi and Sanskrit passages is a fusion of Eastern symbolism and Western composition influenced by Rajasthani and Mogul art. Subodh generally creates her art at her home studio in Corona, CA. Versatile in her use and skill with various mediums, Subodh likes to infuse culture into her art and to tell stories through painting. Like most artists, Subodh is driven by a hidden “need to create” and express herself freely. Through her paintings Subodh forges emotional connections with viewers. Painting is a peaceful meditative process for Subodh and a constant source of expression of herself, life and personal identity.

What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?

Growing up I was always interested in art. For as long as I can remember I have always been interested in art, music, and folk art. It’s like I was in a different world when I was making artwork. I decided to get a bachelor’s degree in India at Agra University. I Majored in Drawing & Painting as well as in sitar, an Indian instrument. I then got married and had children. For many women, when this happens, your priorities shift and your interests go in the back seat. I was busy with raising a family for many years that was my first priority. When my children finished their education and left to go to college, I then started going to college as well. In 1980 I started at Cal State Fullerton to get my Bachelors of Fine Arts. When I went to Cal State Fullerton, I was doing very well. Don Lagenberg was a professor of my life drawing class there, and he really encouraged me, and also helped me bring out the Indian style in my artwork. My faculty told me that if I kept up at the rate I was going I would become a very good artist. The sentence made me very important in my own mind, because that was what my own inner voice was trying to tell me. I was telling myself I wanted to become a good artist. I decided I wanted to be able to teach art, then transferred to UC Irvine to get my Masters of Fine Arts. When the college accepted me, I was chosen to receive the fellowship award for my artwork, and a teaching assistance ship. When I went to UC Irvine I worked hard, and my faculty was very proud of me. When I finally finished my Masters of Fine arts I was given a job to teach at UCI in 1989, and I finally knew I was an artist. I have continued to teach art at Riverside Community College since 1990.

What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?

Being a much-diversified artist, I paint different kinds of subject matter. Recently, I have found myself depicting social and political issues in my symbolic artwork. I want to point out injustice in the world, so that it may be brought to the attention of others. I pinpoint issues such as human trafficking, global warming, racism, and inequality for women and colored people. With my other pieces of work such as my floral and landscape paintings, I want to emphasize the beauty that exists in the world. Being inspired by Georgie O’ Keeffe, I paint large images of flowers, showing their intricacy. Nothing in the natural world is simple—it all has so much depth and detail. From the beautiful facets of a flower bud to the awe of Mount Everest, my artwork is used to behold the gorgeousness nature contains.

What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?

There are many things I hope to communicate to my viewers. When I paint flowers, I want to illuminate the importance of slowing down to enjoy the world around you. There is such depth of detail in the world, and you will never see it unless you take time away from the fast pace of day-to-day life. Enjoy everything you can in life, no matter how small, and never be afraid to marvel at the loveliness of something. My floral paintings hold deeper symbolism than just beauty. Many of my floral images are narrative artworks, telling a story with their color and composition. My landscape paintings behold the beauty of the world around us, capturing a moment in time. When you make a landscape painting, you can convey an atmosphere of feeling and emotions to your viewer. I always choose natural scenes that bring out emotions in myself, then choose a color pallet and composition that I feel help the viewer experience what I have felt. I want the viewer to feel enveloped by the scene, noticing every detail so that they see the world with a more appreciative eye. Abstract artwork is very cathartic for me. I can spend hours mixing color and streaming it onto canvas or paper. With this artwork, I express myself without words, just with color, aiming to create a piece of art with high aesthetic value that can be hung in someone’s home to bring peace, intense hues, and power. I find that abstract art is very interactive; what you see is different depending on your life experiences. I always leave the meaning of my abstract pieces to the viewer and am excited to hear what others perceive. Creating symbolic artwork is much different. I want to paint large problems within the world—personally, politically, and socially. In order to solve any problem in our world, we first have to recognize that it is a problem, not just nationally, but globally. This is the only way we can begin to solve any problems that plague us. I want to highlight the importance of using your voice, to never keep quiet. If we do not tackle issues head on and bring attention to them, they will only grow exponentially, making them harder to tackle in the long run. While negativity is highlighted in my symbolic work, positivity plays a key role as well. Love, happiness, and respect are all facets of life I have shown. I think displaying positivity is just as important as displaying negativity, since it can show the difference between the two—you cannot know positive from negative unless you have seen them both.

Can you explain the process of creating your work?

I use all of the mediums: Charcoal, Pen & Ink, Pastel, Mix Media, Acrylic, Oil, Gouache, Watercolor, and Graphite. If I desire detailed work, I use watercolor or Gouache. If I want to have very bold and bright colors I would utilize oil and acrylic. I cannot choose one I love the most, I adore all of the mediums for their own special characteristics. I feel very lucky I can utilize all of the mediums to an exceptional degree. When I am executing my paintings I am able to express my ideals in each painting further. I make abstract, floral, symbolic, and landscape paintings. In my paintings you will see a lot of layers, and intricate designs. Specifically in my abstracts, I use layers and layers of colors, and transparency. My floral paintings I use mediums that show velvety softness and extreme detail. In my symbolic paintings I try to tell a story, and help the viewer empathize with the emotions I feel. In my landscape paintings I use whatever medium I feel fits well with each scene I am trying to make. Sometimes the subject matter comes first when I create, sometimes it doesn’t. There are times when I do an abstract painting and I have an idea of what I will do. Other times I start painting and go on a journey, but I do not know where the destination lies. The only thing I always do is pick a color palette before starting a painting. I like to make sure all of the colors resonate with one another. I either choose harmonious colors, opposing colors, or mono colors. A lot of times, you can see my feelings in the colors I choose. When I use very strong fiery colors of red or orange, you can see love or anger in my paintings. Grey or black is used to express sadness. Pink is for prosperity. Green is for growth. Yellow is utilized for brightness, and uplifting. Blue is very spiritual, and peaceful. White is for purity. All of my colors hold meaning and emotions. They are not chosen randomly, but each color corresponds to a feeling.

What is your favourite part of the creative process?

My favorite part of painting is being in the moment, the journey of the painting. At what destination will I end up? It is always unknown, but excites me very much. Another exciting aspect of making artwork is being hypnotized by my creation. I forget all of the problems within my life: my body pain, my emotional pain, political problems, social issues, and sometimes I even forget to eat! Nothing is more freeing for me than creating, and I believe in the power artwork has. I provide art therapy to individuals with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, PTSD, autism, and many others; I have seen major improvements in their lives, as they learn how to cope and relieve their stress through art.

Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

I have just launched my newest series of miniature paintings on my website, inspired by ancient Rajesthani and Mughal miniature paintings. For many months previous, I had been working on large abstract landscape imagery ranging 48”x48” inches and larger, so I decided to work on a project that is completely opposite. I like to work on multiple projects at once; I am currently creating many landscape scenes in acrylic and watercolor on paper that are turning out very interesting. In the future, I am planning to paint subject matters such as global warming, beautiful California poppies, finishing my series ‘under the ocean’ for a total of seven paintings, and more symbolic artwork. Because of coronavirus many of my shows were postponed, but presently I am having a virtual solo show through my gallery ‘Subodh Fine Art Studio’ at India Art Festival, and I have been chosen to receive an award and exhibition from Art Tour International for their Top 60 Masters Award. I will show my work internationally with Nina Torrance in her World Tour. Many more shows are planned for the future, but have not been given dates because of the current pandemic.

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