For the love of realism

Amarjot Kaur

In the capacity of a judge, at Punjab and Haryana High Court, 62-year-old Mohinder Mohan Singh Bedi obviously has a lot that weighs heavy on his mind, which he often chooses to vent out with a stroke of brush. As he exhibits his paintings at a solo exhibition, titled Expressions, organised by Artscapes, he admits to taking refuge in art for meditative reasons even though he has no formal education in fine arts. “My character has many odds at play, but I do find painting very relaxing. So, I retire to my easel, palette, brush, and paints when I get home from a hard day’s work,” he shares.

Bedi, who chooses to paint with water colours, says that he has a fixation with taking up challenges or anything that people think is ‘difficult’. “Though I have never studied painting, I liked the idea of painting in water colour because it is not an easy medium to work in. What makes it challenging is that while you can correct a mistake in both oil and acrylic, water colours don’t allow you that leverage and flexibility,” he adds.

Most of Bedi’s paintings at the Government Museum and Art Gallery are in water colour on paper, while 14 are in acrylic on canvas. Bedi’s choice of subject, like most romantic artists, is nature, and he paints a vibrant composition of cityscapes, seascapes, landscapes, birds, and flowers. His love for realism announces itself rather aloud as one looks at the way he paints flowers, giving the mundane object a new dimension. His cityscapes, however, have a striking similarity—while most human figures merge and look abstract and lack fine definition, they tend to complement their vicinity and its environment, leaving the onlooker’s imagination with much to beguile itself with. 

One wouldn’t be too biased towards Bedi’s artworks if only he didn’t find Sobha Singh’s work inspiring or if he hadn’t added a metaphorical slant to John Keats’ poem: A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever. Besides, he’s not looking to take a pecuniary advantage of his talent either. “I’m not doing this for money. It’s just for my love for art,” he signs off.

On till November 17. 

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