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Art

Sentimental journeys

Interior landscapes: Clockwise from top, Natasha Kissell’s “Valley of Beating Wings”; Natasha Law’s “Olive Dress on Blue” and “Red Dress on Green”.

Thirty-year-old Natasha Kissell was most worried about the confusion over the first name she shared with her fellow British artist in the exhibition at Mumbai’s The Viewing Room Gallery. “I am Natasha Kissell and she is Natasha Law,” ; she repeated. She had nothing to worry as, apart from the first name, Kissell’s paintings had really no obvious similarity with Law’s works on aluminium, depicting women in languorous poses.

Under the title “Romanticism Interrupted”, the first of The Viewing Room’s travelling exhibitions deals with the female form and sweeping landscapes. In Kissell’s work, don’t be surprised to find a cheetah with a red collar, exotic birds, orang-utans in front of snow-capped mountains, flocks of geese, their wings lit by the sun, caparisoned elephants, a bright blue green peacock, a garden of lotuses and Le Corbusier’s municipal building in Chandigarh in the foreground of the terraced landscape of Doon Valley. And yes, even cows.

Kissell’s paintings reflect her love of the wide open spaces. She was born in South Africa and took a while to get used to London, where she lives now. She uses real buildings in her paintings juxtaposed against landscapes which add a wondrous quality to them. She is fascinated by the geometric quality of the various buildings she has painted. “I wanted to contrast the countryside and I wanted to put something so that people notice,” she says. “You are really playful when you paint and you can make up stories as you go along,” she laughs. Kissell started out by painting portraits and confesses that she never knew what to do with the background. While trying to work that out she ended up with landscapes.

Painting is very exciting for her and she says, “You follow one path and you end up doing something else — it’s so unpredictable.” Her current exhibition is largely based on sketches she did in Mussoorie. While agreeing that landscapes have been done to death, she still prefers them. “I like the modernism it offers and the proportions, though it is a much quieter way of doing things. I am trying to offer something new — there are many treasures to unlock,” she grins. Her works do command attention with their expansive portrayal of nature and their playful quality. For her, it is also some sort of escapism, trying to deal with a cold, wet, rainy London from the warmth and open spaces of Africa which she left when she was eight years old. Though now she bonds more with England, she admits. Kissell is off to Tamil Nadu to tour the hill stations there and to create a new set of paintings.

The other Natasha works with a different medium that is tedious, to say the least. “While working it’s so unglamorous. I have to wear masks, there is so much paper and tape and am so relieved to see the work in the gallery,” she laughs. “I love the shapes of the body and the armours people put on. I am looking at how people shed this along the way. It’s a private moment that I am capturing.” However, she says she is not a voyeur looking through the keyhole. “It’s like watching a person who has no concept of being watched. I am trying to examine what it is to be a woman and capture some moment not meant for the outside gaze. It’s their own world and in my work women see elements of themselves.”

The Natashas: Kissell (left) and Law.

She likes using aluminium as it is an “anonymous surface” and it’s like a mirror in a sense. “I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like my paintings,” she smiles.

However, more than her critics, she says the hard thing for her is the celebrity connection. She is the sister of Hollywood star Jude Law. “People don’t take you seriously because of that,” she feels. Looking at Law’s paintings, one thing is apparent. The amount of hard work that has gone into creating them. Her paintings cannot be seen in isolation and she says that while you are inhabiting the modern world, you have that historical element as well. Law also likes joint shows. “It’s sharing the pressure and trying to find connections in the differences that’s exciting.”

There is desolation in the works of both artists in different ways. There is also an element of searching for something. In the poses of the women in Law’s work, there is anonymity and a sense of indifference to being watched. Women stretch out like cats, relaxing, lying on the side, their faces are not clear but their body language is one of languor and even longing. In Kissell’s landscapes you find the unexpected but you also get a sense of the vast open spaces. The rich colours of nature and the exotic animals startle you. As curator of The Viewing Room, Niyatee Shinde, puts in her introduction to the paintings, “Romanticism Interrupted deals with the body, with desire and feelings of isolation. It is the sentimental journey of two artists. Natasha Kissell’s treatment of the natural world is a romantic concern for the landscape. The Romantic treatment of simplicity and isolation of subject, finds expression in the minimalism of Natasha Law.

Charlie Phillips, curator of Eleven Fine Art, London, who works with emerging artists, says that the idea of the show started off with someone who saw Kissell’s paintings in the gallery in London. That set off a chain of events culminating in this exhibition.

The idea is to develop a cultural exchange by bringing the artists here and doing a reverse in London next summer. He says the Indian market is global and he hopes one day people will talk about art in an international language and not as if it belongs to any one country or region. At the opening itself, a few of the paintings were sold, a reflection perhaps of that spirit.

Romanticism Interrupted is on at The Viewing Room, Mumbai till December 6, 2008.

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