Itkila: Vidya Nag

VIDYA NAG is a native Bangalorean. Her formal education was in engineering, but her passion was art. Since childhood, she taught herself the techniques of using different media to explore and express this passion. Her art called her strongly enough that she decided to quit her job at WIPRO.

The series, Recollections: Aesthetic Sanctity is her first public presentation. These resulted from multiple visits to several Hoysala temples in Karnataka. Emphasizing details and the interplay of light and shadow Vidya has created that which captivated her in those monuments to Hoysala ingenuity.

Having found the joy in her art, Vidya plans to explore newer avenues.

......................

“Visiting the Hoysala temples, it is difficult not to be awed by the grandeur of that era. What is left for us to enjoy is a damaged panoramic view. Invasions, exposure to a thousand summers and a thousand monsoons, and our sheer neglect have damaged the architecture.

I found that a camera could not match the beauty that my eyes beheld nor capture the emotions that surged through me every time I thought how the same architecture or sculpture might have looked, had it been complete and undamaged.

Painting was the only way I could explore what I saw ... and felt.

Through the vision of my soul I have tried recreating that past for us all to view and enjoy. Following extensive research of the Hoysala period, I tried rendering the same splendor, richness, grandeur, and joy to the paintings to provide a glimpse of the world that once was. In this, I have tried playing with the light to give my subjects the depth that they deserved.” – Vidya Nag