Mumbai: Colorful hues and brush strokes bringing alive the mystique and aura of a banyan tree is what Aparna Bidasaria loves doing the most. The Indore-based artist's latest work being showcased here is a set of nearly 25 evocative paintings, titled 'Time and Being', leaving the art connoisseurs here mesmerised.   

The canvasses portray the tree in varied forms and time zones. Bidasaria says the paintings in the travelling exhibition are inspired from her fascination since childhood for the banyan tree. "Banyan tree has a presence. It is mysterious, it looks powerful and looks like it'll just keep on living," Aparna told PTI.   

"It has a very strong sense of being in it. I've always been drawn towards the banyan tree but never drew it till some years back," she says. The painter deftly uses clay, charcoal, pastel, ink and acrylic as medium to capture the tree in time zones of sunrise and sunset.   

Barring a few, which are named "untitled", as the artist couldn't get "the time and space" to give them a proper name, all her works have titles which are reflective of the piece. 'Sanjh', 'Safed Dhoop', 'Roohani', 'Basant' are among her works featuring the banyan trees, but Bidasaria says it isn't that she comes up with a title first and then starts painting on an empty canvas.   

"I start with a very abstract thought. It's a sketch I have and a very abstract feeling. Then I work on it and the feeling builds up, the colours come in. Only when I have completed it I think of a name," she says. On an average, even a small work would take her "not less than 18-20 days" and during that period she is completely immersed in that experience.   

Curated by noted scholar and critic Uma Nair, the exhibition will be on display at the Jehangir Art Gallery here till August 20.   Though it got critical acclaim in Bhopal and New Delhi, to be at Jehangir Art Gallery is a surreal feeling for Bidasaria.   

"The response has been too good. Jehangir (art gallery) is something else. If I have to tell people I am having a show here, they say 'oh you've arrived'. I have a long way to go but this feeling is amazing," she says. "This is the last leg of the travelling exhibition for this year. I do have an exhibition in Chennai next month and I'll be taking part in the India art festival also next year. I am looking forward to present my work there," she says. PTI