Ma- Untitled (peach, purple, pink) By Tarini Ahuja

About the Artist: Tarini Ahuja (b.1990, India) was born and raised in New Delhi, India. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore and graduated with a B.A. (Honors) in Fine Arts from Goldsmith’s, University of London in 2013. Tarini has exhibited her work in group shows in New Delhi, Haryana, Singapore, London and Seoul. In 2015 she was invited to exhibit her work at the India International Centre in New Delhi, where she had her first Solo exhibition titled ‘Wabi Sabi’. Wabi Sabi is beauty in the inconspicuous, unconventional, the overlooked details. It is an intuitive worldview founded by the Zen Buddhists.Along with being aesthetically pleasing, Tarini Ahuja’s work provides the viewer with a sense of positivity and peace. She aims to create, through her paintings a space for solace and reflection, an escape from the mundane. Her handling of paint is intended to cause an effect of puzzlement to the viewer, the colour usage, and the contrast between thick and thin along with the use of shadows is a deliberate visual trickery. She uses acrylic paints as she feels it is a versatile medium and allows her to experiment with the materiality of the paint. Her colour palette moves from pristine whites, clerical greys, sensitive blues and garden greens to dusty, earthy shades, chaotic hues and dramatic contrasts. She plays with the notions of illusion in painting and projects a whimsical feel through her works. The Japanese idea of ‘Ma’ and Wabi-Sabi both play important roles in her aesthetic. Ma can be roughly translated as gap, pause or the space in between. The concept of Ma is a powerful concept with many faces and layers it routes from the philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism.