Nature is always great in design. She is an admirable colorist that harmonizes tints with infinite variety and beauty.” (Gilpin, Observations on the River Wye 1789)
The work of Dolly Dhillon (Dawinder Kaur Dhillon) tells the story of most creative Indian women of the 1970s and 80s, since they were so engaged with their family that they hardly got the ‘self-sanctioned’ time required for concentrating on their art. It is only after her children were following their higher education that Dolly enrolled to do her bachelors and masters in fine arts at Vishakhapatnam (Vizag), with of course, the support of her family.
It was here that she met so many people relating to art, where ‘one could express oneself”. Dolly in fact expressed herself in different mediums from painting and sculpture to print making, where the latter was her strongest medium.
In her new body of work Dolly is keen on expressing her affinity to nature in a style that comes naturally to her. She is a keen observer but likes to be guided by what comes to her spontaneously. From an external view of an art critic, one could say that she merges Impressionistic and Cubistic techniques to engage in her own interpretation of the two styles, although she is not intentionally taking from the stylistics. While capturing the seasonal changes offlora that surrounds her, Dolly brings to it the powers that rejuvenate not just herself but her viewers. The artist draws a very strong parallel between nature and femininity and she concurs that the two are beautiful and complete in and of themselves.
While her subject for this body of work remains constant, her intention is to not use one particular style’, rather she is open to using installation, collage as well as printmaking techniques alongside her painting. Trees are a primary motif that enters her consciousness and she is inspired by the resilience of the tree such that she made it one of her areas of attentiveness. She was connected to trees when Vizag was hit by a cyclonic storm and many trees were uprooted orfell during this natural catastrophe. As a response to the destruction, she joined different tree planting drive as part of her involvement and initiative. After that when she was locked-down the Pandemic hit her city, she felt that the trees are the ‘lifeline of the human soul’ and she started doing a large format series in water colours.
“I never stuck to a subject matter. I would call myself a feminist with nature as my guide. As a woman I am sensitive to that which nurtures the whole human race and is quietly the backbone of society,” says Dhillon adding. “Nature is the inner and outer beauty of mankind and she provides us with the strength to combat adversaries and nurture the human race, I love work related to women landscapes and trees and doing painting and sculpture that reflects that From charcoal, acrylic, oil to water colours she has tried her hand at all mediums and she has worked on surfaces from paper to wood and even metal. She is inspired to work in different medium by her own sense of curiosity and a healthy desire to explore and experiment. “I love taking the road that is more challenging to me,” she adds.
It is more difficult for her to answer the challenge posed by the mediums and she believes that gives birth to something new. Currently she is experimenting with woodcut and the use of actual of tree-bark that was worked with resin as trees and materials. She is working with the tree bark as a metaphor for strength since it protects the soft flesh of the tree, and the artist believes that one should protect one’s mind from seeping in negative thoughts. She has entwined traces of gold foil and layered the bark with frozen resin that fixes the goldleaf into the bark. It is a metaphor derived from the Japanese technique of Kintsugi an ancient art form of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold – built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, enables one to create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art. “It is an inset into my life.”
Dolly is aware of many leading and established artists that she admires and, in their work, she tapped into the freedom they enjoyed not emulating that which is rigid or enclosed in a tight box. She believes that style and medium should come naturally to a person. There should be a sense of flexibility and also a sense o fjoy about what one is feeling and experiencing. “If I cannot talk about what I am feeling one won’t feel that one can express oneself properly…I really started enjoying it and continue to do so,” says Dolly. Like the tree that provides us with oxygen we should eschew negativity and enjoy the positivity of life. “As an artist I like to reflect mv own life in my art work if my art could reflect that I would feel happy about it. I love to travel and the more I travel the more I would pick up ways to express myself in my journey. In art I enjoy my passion, I also believe in meditation at this stage of my life. Once I have started this journey, I will continue with it till the very end,” she conclude.
– Georgina Maddox
Art critic – curator (Delhi)