The palette called India

When Ildikoacute Morovszki Halaacutesz lsquoMorildirsquo arrived in India in 2015 little did the Hungarian artist know that the vibrant colours of the country would lead her to embark on a new journey in her career A graphic designer by training she decided to pick up the paintbrush for the first time an urge she attributes to what her ldquofellow Hungarianborn woman artist Amrita SherGil must have felt living hererdquo Four years on and several exhibitions later as Halaacutesz prepares to return to Budapest in June she is showcasing her works in a solo show India My Love at the venue where it all beganPortraitsWhen not travelling with her husband Andras Halaacutesz commercial and cultural counsellor at the Consulate General of Hungary the couple stay at a BKC hotel of a French luxury chain where she held her first exhibition ldquoMy first impression of India will always be its myriad coloursrdquo shares Halaacutesz and in her bid to translate them to the canvas she travelled to Rajasthan the Himalayan foothills and the holy cities of Varanasi Madurai Haridwar and Rishikesh ldquoOne of my first trips in India with my family was to Rajasthan where I was astonished to come across rugged features and colourful yet craggy faces These faces inspired me to start to paint portraits So we can say that the birthplace of my portraits was Rajasthanrdquo she writes in a note on the showWater Carriers seriesBut before she took the plunge into painting she decided to turn to SherGil once again ldquoI made aquarelle studies on her most famous Indian oil paintings with the goal to create a deacutejagrave vu feeling expressing the original atmosphere of her paintings but with a different techniquerdquo Halaacutesz explains Seventyfive of these works most of them done in acrylic feature in the ongoing exhibition subcategorised under various stylesNaked RealityThe artworks in the Bindi pointillism series for example draw from the neoimpressionist technique of painting that makes use of tiny dots and blend it with the artistrsquos understanding of the bindu in Hindu spiritualism Another intriguing series is one titled Naked Reality where subjects seem to emerge from the backdrop ldquoThe idea is to make the poor visible Those who are vulnerable cannot be rendered invisiblerdquo she says adding that at the same time it is also her way of saying that one can still emerge victorious from this nothingnessIldikoacute Morovszki HalaacuteszHer time in the city finds its way into the Promenade series inspired by Mumbaikarsrsquo love for the seafront The silhouettes that feature in the paintings however donrsquot just depict people against the setting sun ldquoOn several such promenades in Mumbai especially on Carter Road in Bandra one can see plaques on benches dedicated to deceased family members In the crepuscular gloom of the sunset one could think that at this time the shadows of those long gone can be seen as wellrdquo she sharesThrough these paintings as Halaacutesz carries back a slice of India with her she tells us that the couple plans to exhibit them in Hungary too ldquoWe want to show our people India through our eyesrdquo they say in unisonTill May 15 At Lobby Level Art Gallery Sofitel Mumbai BKC Call 61175000Catch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get the latest updates