About the Artist & the Medium (Papier Mâché)
Bharati Pitre, a mixed media artist who currently works in paper pulp, studied at Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai and specialised in illustration. Then, after a brief stint in teaching illustration at her alma mater, she had an urge to experiment with found objects. She displayed her experiments using Kala Ghoda as her platform, where she found an overwhelming response every time. It was during this time that she happened to meet her teacher, a visual merchandiser and freelance artist, Shri Sharad Kumar (the grandson of artist Smt. Chandrakala Devi from Bihar, who was the first rural artist to receive a National Award from the President of India in 1984).
Shri Sharad Kumar opened Bharati's eyes to the traditional technique of papier mâché over 15 years ago and she fell in love with the robust and spontaneous material immediately, experimenting with it ever since. Originally used by artisans from different parts of India, the paper fuses together with the help of natural binders sourced from what is indigenously available in its surroundings. Bharati has made it a point not to move away from these traditional methods. She wanted to take it to a level where an urban contemporary artist could choose to work with it as a serious option to build and sculpt with.
What makes this material particularly challenging is that it is truly its own master. It takes its own time, has its own evolution, before becoming what the sculptor wishes it to be, giving the art form an unpredictable and exciting dynamic.
Workshops & Exhibitions
Bharati has been actively participating in various group shows where she has been able to carve a niche for herself, creating a lot of curiosity which has led to her conducting many workshops in various cities across India. Her work has been selected for many juried shows like the Art Society of India, the Bombay Art society, India Art Festival, etc. She is also a visiting faculty at DeCAD (Devrukh College of Art and Design) where she inspires many to follow in her footsteps. She has also had an opportunity to teach at ASEEMA, an NGO for street children.
Bharati’s work, which ranges from purely serious art to experimental and commissioned work, is part of various private collections in India and abroad. A lot of her work has been taken for an upcoming private Museum. The public art which she created for the first biennale held in Pune, is now installed at Lakshmibai Pitre Kalasangrahalaya, a museum in Devrukh, Ratnagiri district.
This being her second solo show at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (her first was in 2013), her work is also currently on display as one of the official collaterals at the prestigious Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016-17 (20 Dec 2016 - 30 Mar 2017).
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an initiative of the Kochi-Biennale Foundation with support from the Government of Kerala. The exhibition is set in spaces across Kochi, Muziris and surrounding islands. The exhibits are displayed in existing galleries and halls, and site-specific installations in public spaces, heritage buildings, and structures not in use.
Titled, "The Forgotten Wings", Bharati's piece is a testament to one's inner struggle to find the strength to rely on oneself. Evoking visceral and relatable ideas, her style is indicative of her ability to tap into her innermost thoughts and feelings and express them through her work.
'Look Once. Look Twice’,
Art Review
Realistic and thoughtful!
Bharti Pitre has finely put down the current events and the daily chores of our life ina very subtle manner.
Reading between the lines, the artist has managed to sculpt it all and bring it under one roof.Being it a filmmaker of cinema to a simple housewife drying clothes in an extra ordinary way. Getting us to know more about our daily life, we tend to forget these small things that is a part and parcel of our life, while Bharti has confronted us with our actual lifestyle.
In a fast paced running life, her observation is one to salute.
Bharati Pitre, a mixed media artist who currently works in paper pulp, studied at Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai and specialised in illustration. Then, after a brief stint in teaching illustration at her alma mater, she had an urge to experiment with found objects. She displayed her experiments using Kala Ghoda as her platform, where she found an overwhelming response every time. It was during this time that she happened to meet her teacher, a visual merchandiser and freelance artist, Shri Sharad Kumar (the grandson of artist Smt. Chandrakala Devi from Bihar, who was the first rural artist to receive a National Award from the President of India in 1984).
Shri Sharad Kumar opened Bharati's eyes to the traditional technique of papier mâché over 15 years ago and she fell in love with the robust and spontaneous material immediately, experimenting with it ever since. Originally used by artisans from different parts of India, the paper fuses together with the help of natural binders sourced from what is indigenously available in its surroundings. Bharati has made it a point not to move away from these traditional methods. She wanted to take it to a level where an urban contemporary artist could choose to work with it as a serious option to build and sculpt with.
What makes this material particularly challenging is that it is truly its own master. It takes its own time, has its own evolution, before becoming what the sculptor wishes it to be, giving the art form an unpredictable and exciting dynamic.
Workshops & Exhibitions
Bharati has been actively participating in various group shows where she has been able to carve a niche for herself, creating a lot of curiosity which has led to her conducting many workshops in various cities across India. Her work has been selected for many juried shows like the Art Society of India, the Bombay Art society, India Art Festival, etc. She is also a visiting faculty at DeCAD (Devrukh College of Art and Design) where she inspires many to follow in her footsteps. She has also had an opportunity to teach at ASEEMA, an NGO for street children.
Bharati’s work, which ranges from purely serious art to experimental and commissioned work, is part of various private collections in India and abroad. A lot of her work has been taken for an upcoming private Museum. The public art which she created for the first biennale held in Pune, is now installed at Lakshmibai Pitre Kalasangrahalaya, a museum in Devrukh, Ratnagiri district.
This being her second solo show at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (her first was in 2013), her work is also currently on display as one of the official collaterals at the prestigious Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016-17 (20 Dec 2016 - 30 Mar 2017).
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an initiative of the Kochi-Biennale Foundation with support from the Government of Kerala. The exhibition is set in spaces across Kochi, Muziris and surrounding islands. The exhibits are displayed in existing galleries and halls, and site-specific installations in public spaces, heritage buildings, and structures not in use.
Titled, "The Forgotten Wings", Bharati's piece is a testament to one's inner struggle to find the strength to rely on oneself. Evoking visceral and relatable ideas, her style is indicative of her ability to tap into her innermost thoughts and feelings and express them through her work.
'Look Once. Look Twice’,
Bharati Pitre's next solo
show pays a tribute to everyday life that stands out for its ordinariness and
cajoles her into metamorphosing it into extra-ordinariness. When you look once,
things sometimes appear ordinary, regular, and unremarkable. But if you look
again, and look closer, you begin to see that everything is so incredibly
interesting and has its own unique story that brought it to that point, the
point that we are now witnessing. Bharati is intrigued by people;
their expressions and their body language; her images therefore are bound to
evoke memories blended with stories.
This exhibition deals with the wonderful life that we see around us, the beauty of which we sometimes choose to ignore. From the charming and quaint style of life shared by those inhabiting chawls in Mumbai, to intimate moments exchanged between a father and son, Bharati has captured several scenes that have made a permanent home in her thoughts.
With no noticeably consistent colour palette, it is evident that Bharati has given herself complete freedom in rendering her works. While the forms and colors are bold, the emotion exuding from her work is subtle, making for a true visual delight. Human and animal forms have always caught her attention. Her over-the-top large body masses and bright colours leave an indelible mark on people’s minds, as a result of which, her exaggerated figures are now her signature style. The bulges take nothing away from the graceful air of these figures, reminding us that our preconditioned notions of beauty could use some reëxamination.
This being her second solo show at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (her first was in 2013), her work is also currently on display as one of the official collateral's at the prestigious Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016-17 (20 Dec 2016 - 30 Mar 2017). The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an initiative of the Kochi-Biennale Foundation with support from the Government of Kerala. Titled, "The Forgotten Wings", Bharati's piece is a testament to one's inner struggle to find the strength to rely on oneself. Evoking visceral and relatable ideas, her style is indicative of her ability to tap into her innermost thoughts and feelings and express them through her work
This exhibition deals with the wonderful life that we see around us, the beauty of which we sometimes choose to ignore. From the charming and quaint style of life shared by those inhabiting chawls in Mumbai, to intimate moments exchanged between a father and son, Bharati has captured several scenes that have made a permanent home in her thoughts.
With no noticeably consistent colour palette, it is evident that Bharati has given herself complete freedom in rendering her works. While the forms and colors are bold, the emotion exuding from her work is subtle, making for a true visual delight. Human and animal forms have always caught her attention. Her over-the-top large body masses and bright colours leave an indelible mark on people’s minds, as a result of which, her exaggerated figures are now her signature style. The bulges take nothing away from the graceful air of these figures, reminding us that our preconditioned notions of beauty could use some reëxamination.
This being her second solo show at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (her first was in 2013), her work is also currently on display as one of the official collateral's at the prestigious Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016-17 (20 Dec 2016 - 30 Mar 2017). The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an initiative of the Kochi-Biennale Foundation with support from the Government of Kerala. Titled, "The Forgotten Wings", Bharati's piece is a testament to one's inner struggle to find the strength to rely on oneself. Evoking visceral and relatable ideas, her style is indicative of her ability to tap into her innermost thoughts and feelings and express them through her work
Art Review
Realistic and thoughtful!
Bharti Pitre has finely put down the current events and the daily chores of our life ina very subtle manner.
Reading between the lines, the artist has managed to sculpt it all and bring it under one roof.Being it a filmmaker of cinema to a simple housewife drying clothes in an extra ordinary way. Getting us to know more about our daily life, we tend to forget these small things that is a part and parcel of our life, while Bharti has confronted us with our actual lifestyle.
In a fast paced running life, her observation is one to salute.
