Sujata Dere’s perception of the diverse “human beings” that she has encountered and observed, from the numerous parts of India she has been to, is truly her ‘heartspeak’ – the voice of a heart that yearns for harmony. Harmony is the most vital ingredient of art as well as of life itself.
Sujata speaks of a fusion of cultures, a synthesis of beliefs. From stippling to colored pastels and acrylics, to a meaningful interaction with a mélange of artists gathered from all parts of the world, and finally (at this point) to sublimating her perceptions and refining her techniques. It has been an eventful journey, imbued with an urgent sense of creative experimentation, reinforced by artistic purpose.
No artist’s journey can be said to be final. It is an unending travelogue: of discovery and experiencing, of observation and interpretation, of agony and ecstasy, of glimpses of the Divine to atone for caricatures of the mundane, of visions of one’s own inner self, and of images of the grandeur of creation all around, of sthavara and jangama –the nonsentient and the cognitive, of reason that oftentimes turns to unthinking unreason, of hope and despair, of heaven and hell, of tumultuous passion and infinite quiescence…these are all milestones on the artist’s self-appointed road.
I am confident that, in the context of the latest results of the evolution of her artistic self that Sujata presents before us, she will continue to measure that highway of art with lighthearted steps that would be an undoubted counterpoint to the intensity and the depth of her artistic perception and vision.
After all, seeing beauty and variety is not as hard or uncommon as perceiving the ‘harmony’ that guilds the lily of infinite diversity…and in this Sujata truly revels.
– Muthusamy Varadarajan
