Rupa Bheda, by Neerja Peters is an enchanting debut

At the Bikaner House last Thursday, art historian and Neemrana Hotels founder  Aman Nath, Delhi’s famous heart bypass surgeon Dr Satish Mathew and Indian heritage photographer Manoj Arora came together to inaugurate abstractionist Neerja Peters solo debut  Rupa Bheda (Secrets of Form), at Bikaner House.

Neerja, a former medical practitioner and gold medallist from CMC Ludhiana, is a self-taught visual artist for the last 15 years who has been creating works notable for their exploration of abstraction that is deeply invested in the process of a spiritual sojourn. She has already had two solo showings in the USA and another solo at a museum in Australia. She has also during the pandemic been a part of 500 online and offline shows all over the world.

Geometry and Symbolism

Using the idea of forms and geometric symbolism from a diverse array of materials including charcoal and pigments of paint in acrylics as well as lithe lines, this epic exhibition mirrors her interest in a unique balance and harmony of both colours as well as the result of the reflection of light.

At Bikaner House the narrow corridor that leads to the Main Gallery held small vignettes of works that invited a mediative odyssey.Colour is her vehicle while it is the chromatics of combinations that create their own corollary of conversations.

To step into the exhibition of Neerja Peters is to be invited into a kingdom of colour and geometric harmonies. The main wall on the right revels in the compositional clarity of a tender and tensile work she calls The Monk. It breathes the energies of monks worlds over, of the magic of meditation and the contemplative idioms that define the solitary journey.

If the monochromatic works have within their own variety of  vibrations, the colour canvasses brim with humming harmonics. In the language of quantum physics, we are told that both vibrations and harmonics are basic to the participatory physical reality in which we live.

Monochromatic medley 

Scholar critic author and poet Ashok Vajpeyi of the Raza Foundation came on Saturday 22nd February to savour her exhibition and waxed eloquent on the monochromatic wall that held a magical triptych of a Sadhaka 3 along with four works that belonged to her black and white series.

Within the sub text of geometry we also think of the system of representation that  prompts a deeper understanding of form and  subjects than traditional naturalistic representations in abstraction. When we consider  an abstract  painting that is created in strict rules of geometry we unconsciously  engage in an intellectual or perhaps conceptual activity rather than a merely perceptual or visual one. Indeed in the silence of an invitation that speaks within fragments of meditational moorings  Sadhaka 3 (The Trinity) is a study in slate greys and a hint of ochre.

Layered abstractions 

Neerja’s paintings celebrate the chromatics of colour within the precision of mathematical moorings, she positions herself as both audience as well as creator. These layered abstractions are part of an intuitive process, building up and paring down her reflective meditations over extended periods of time.  Her works move from monumental triptychs on view, to series of singular studies as in a wall of sacred signatures with Lord Jagannath and Ganesha gracing a small grey wall.  You can sense at once that Neerja is physically removed from Delhi’s frenetic energy, as she spends  several hours  in solitude in an intense, meditative state of focus to create these small charismatic contours.

Neerja states: “ Art, through its aesthetics, optics, vibrations, rhythms, and the stimulation of latent senses, has the power to elevate the viewer to a higher plane of existence. In experiencing art, one can transcend the material world and connect with a deeper, more subtle aspect of the self, aligning with the ultimate reality. The geometric symbolism in my work, coupled with the interplay of colours, arises from deep contemplation. To me, the interplay of light and the emerging forms signify the divine union of consciousness with the supreme source of all light.”

Engaging the senses 

This exhibition lends itself for the experience created on each wall of this magnificent gallery that becomes an oasis of wonderment in design dynamics. The last large wall  becomes an island of graphic fragmentation in yet another series of five smaller works that engage the senses.

The beauty of discovering her work as an abstractionist lies in seeking the philosophy of India’s masters to understand the language of primary aesthetics in design dynamics and the exploration of colour  specifics. As soon as you gaze at her works you are reminded of the Panchatatva as well as the potency of materiality.

On the same last wall is a large work she says is the lotus that was once exhibited at the Lotus Temple in Delhi .It reminds us of  Tantra,the  geometric forms in yantras and the recitation of mantras designed to invoke various energies and aspects of the Divine. Neerja adds: “ Only advanced spiritual knowledge allows a practitioner, or sadhaka, to truly understand the depth of these symbols. For them, yantras become progressively subtler, and at a certain stage, even a blank space can evoke the spiritual connection that transcends all planes of existence.”

Chromatics of Colour 

The entire exhibition becomes a journey in the chromatics of colour. Before we gaze at her rice paper manifestations in monochromes and slender lines and geometry we are reminded of the great Wassily Kandinsky who wrote:

“ Colour directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively, to cause vibrations in the soul. ”
The play of form and colour, is an island of reflection, an almost paradoxical fusion of philosophical spirit and physical prowess. But within the vocabulary of contours, lines and colour tones is  also an echo of the ancient gesture of meanings  to be found in the algorithm of abstract art journeys.

In her little catalogue of notes and observations designed by the brilliant Mukesh Mishra and printed at Archana Offset ,  we read Neerja’s diary entry that states: “ It is a ‘journey within’ that accompanies this abstract creation of visual and rhythmic poetry reverberating and vibrating in directions to and from the center. The soul that originates from the creator or the centre is directed back to its source and its divine grace, being completely absorbed into a state of loss of separateness from its ultimate essence and reality.”

IMAGES : NEERJA PETERS STUDIO