Madhvi Parekh

b 1942

She was born and raised in Sanjaya, a village in Gujarat. Though she is self-taught and took up painting only in 1964, inspired by her artist-husband Manu Parekh, art remained a part of her consciousness through childhood memories, her family’s rituals such as the traditional floor designs of rangoli, popular folk stories, and simple village life.

While expecting their first child, Parekh’s husband gifted her a book on drawing exercises by Paul Klee, and soon she was taking the first steps towards creating her own art vocabulary.

Apart from folk motifs, legends and figures, Parekh also uses imaginary characters in figurative and abstracted orientations, revealing the use of rhythm and repetition. Often, she utilises the settings of Kalamkari and Pichwai paintings where the main character of the composition sits in the centre with the minor or secondary ones filling the borders.

In the presence of dots, lines, circles and triangles, her paintings have been compared to those of Paul Klee, and in the presence of fantastical and bulbous creatures, to those of Joan Miró. A documentary film on the Parekh couple, titled Dwity, was made by Suraj Purohit in 1992. A retrospective on the artist that was held in New Delhi and Mumbai travelled to New York as well. The artist lives and works in New Delhi.