Fragrance of evolution

Artist Raksha Jesrani unfolds her portfolio of alcohol ink works and acrylic abstracts during an exhibition at Alliance Francaise

Raksha Jesrani's many years of courtship with art has now taken a serious turn: an art aspirant and art appreciation student turned into an art collector has today taken to art practice.

Although in a nascent stage of her creative career where she is confidently handling media and techniques, she has already acquired a language of art which appears promising and moving towards a deeper practice of image-making and mapping down her thought processes, which adds more value and substance to her practice.

Raksha always loved art, even as a Chartered Accountant, and while being busy with her children growing up. During the time, she painted whenever she could and explored different mediums like oils, acrylics and papier-mache. "In fact, I have a collection of paintings in all the three mediums from those days," she says.

About how all it started she says, "I started with a very fresh frame of mind and was open to anything. I think this approach did help me. I started with acrylic pours and then went onto the painting with fluid paints. The acrylic pour was not easy at all. Plus, you don't get the right colours and additives in India. I did a lot of experimenting for the first four months until I got it right."

"Nevertheless, pouring paint was liberating and exhilarating at the same time. I realised that one can be creative and do a lot with paints in ways so unconventional. This really got me started," she adds.

Eventually, she steered towards floral themes in her paintings and began using alcohol inks. She explains, "I did a lot of experimentation while I was working with fluid paint.

Later, I stumbled upon this medium called alcohol inks. I used to read a lot and watch many videos. What I saw was so bewitching. The transparency of the medium itself was good enough for me to adopt it. My decision was made: I knew instantly that this was my medium. And, so, I gathered all the required components and started painting."

On the element of abstract in her works, she says, "I see myself as an artist who does not want to be tied down to reality. I am not God, but at least I can choose my own forms, what I want to draw and contemplate, not needing to adhere to the real world. My canvas may reflect some things from the real world but they belong to my realm of existence."

As an artist, she believes that it is important to enjoy one's work, keep experimenting, exploring and learning and always keep the pores open to absorb more. "I wish I knew what the future holds for me. Left to me, I would like to keep learning, experimenting, do a lot more meaningful and impactful work and ceaselessly enjoy creating it," she says.