18 x 24 inches, Metal frame with Museum glass
Stone pigmenst and Gouche on Waseli
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About the Artwork:
The Art of Play
One of my preoccupations is an ongoing series of imaginative renditions of ancient games of India. The first of which was saap sidi, or snakes and ladders. What drew me to this game was the story behind it. Also called 'Moksha Patam', the game was used as a didactic tool to teach about virtues and vices; virtues like satya (truth), jnana (wisdom) and bhakti (devotion) took you up the ladders of spiritual progress and towards the abode of the Gods; vices (represented by snakes) like kama (desire), krodha (anger), ahankaar (egostism) took you further away. Hence, the title, 'Vice and Virtue'.
This set me up to explore more games played in ancient India, and on a path to use the geometric structure of games. I imagine patterns, colours and motifs, to add a layer of playfulness to the concept of games. For me, this series represents the sheer delight and enjoyment in imagining and rendering them in fun and interesting ways.
About the Artist (BIO):
Divya Pamnani (b.1983, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) has completed her BSc, Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, 2007, Masters in Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2011, PGD, Indian Aesthetics, 2020 and PG, South Asian Painting: The Art of the Book in South Asia, 2021 from Jnanapravaha, Mumbai, 2021. Her work has been exhibited in a solo show at Kathiwada City House, Mumbai, 2022 and group shows at Bikaner House, New Delhi, 2023 via Modern Art Gallery, Surat Art Fair via Gallery Art and Soul and India Design ID, New Delhi, 2020.
Divya pursues ongoing training in the Indian Miniature painting technique from Master Artist Mahaveer Swami in Rajasthan, a proponent of the Bikaner School of painting. She gets to witness first-hand the studio practice of a traditional Master Artist, reminiscent of the Mughal and Rajput ateliers.
Aware of the vast and rich legacy of Indian Miniature Paintings, Divya is engaging with the tradition, crafting a unique visual language, and painting on themes that are personal yet universal, carefully referencing select imagery to convey meaning and symbolism through her work. As a deep-sea diver the circularity of unending underwater life offers her a contemplation on personal and universal existential attempts, of ordering the microcosm of our lives with the macrocosm of the universe’s life. Through her work, she endeavours to bring positivity, beauty and joy into this world.
Divya Pamnani lives and works in Mumbai, India.
