Mysticism and emotion combine in the works of artist Aradhana Tandon, whose paintings are themed around women and structured buildings

Sheetal

On Saturday evening, an audio-visual presentation, Shades of Life, held at Alliance Francaise, Chandigarh, showcased paintings by renowned artist Aradhana Tandon, whose works demonstrate great strength, emotion and innocence.

Tandon’s art presents the strength of women as the most authentic and prominent metaphor of nature, due to her ability to produce, nurture and contribute values. Women and structured buildings often find their way in Tandon’s work. She says, “It’s true that many who witness my work think of women as being a theme, but my intentions have always been to depict humans of all kinds. As for the structured buildings, they are also a presentation of my inner thoughts and dreams that come in many shapes, sizes and colour.”

Tandon's imagination takes off from her own source of artistic creativity that rises from her subconscious mind. Her work is creative expression of an intelligent soul, which can trigger some of the most challenging thoughts.

While the event was mainly an audio-visual presentation organised by MN Sharma Architectural Society, Tandon displayed a few of her works in the art gallery for people to appreciate her 33-year-long career.

There’s also hint of mysticism in her works. Her ability to fuse one figurine into another and bring alive animals, birds or trees is remarkable. Even the choice of colours is unique. For her journey, Tandon specifically thanked renowned artist Prem Singh, who also served as the formal principal of Government College of Art, Chandigarh. “Under his tutelage, I was able to develop many skills. I also thank Diwan Manna for encouraging me to be out here with my works.”

Apart from drawing inspiration from Chandigarh’s architecture, which she has seen and very much been a part of, she has painted other locations as well, such as Cappadocia in Turkiye.