Subtle Soliloquy by Bimmi Khan

It is raining outside, and with a mug of steaming tea in hand, one makes an acquaintance with Bimmi’s recent body of work. The large (40 x 90 inch) triptych enters sotto voce, into one’s consciousness as the soft surface of dry pastels and texture-white surrenders itself to subtle colours, which emerge from the interiority of the artist’s subconscious rather than being applied upon the surface. It could be a symphony in blue from the sea, off-white or the warm shades of earth tones.

The subtle scratches and slashes left by the blade are like punctuation marks, the floating forms like sailboats in an endless sea creates a calm that washes over and draws the viewer into the vortex of illumination, like the subtle streaks of white sunlight across a darkened room. Bimmi’s paintings are imbued with meditative forces that draw you in, blocking out the din and bustle of the city. While looking at her work, one could be on a mountainside in Ladakh, a beach in Corfu or a quiet street in Russia. The ability of the work to transport the viewer is immense and yet they have very humble beginnings, since Bimmi is a self-taught painter.

Despite being self taught, Bimmi’s compositions appear highly skilled, displaying a mastery over the medium and as well as a fair amount of restraint behind her evocations, the artist, who has been painting for the last 10 to 15 years, is a spontaneous and largely self-taught painter. The presence of dry-pastels, the easy availability of soft-board and the urge to paint, led Bimmi down a path of self-discovery that has resulted in a vast body of work. After everyone would leave the house, for work or school, she would hold quiet conversations with her paintings. She would spread her work out on the floor, waiting for inspiration to come from the inner recesses of her mind. Often the presence of a shape or colour would surprise the artist herself, for it would just arrive from her memory.

Having spent her youth fulfilling her role as a mother, Bimmi turned to the self-fulfilling act of painting in the second chapter of her life. “I often feel that my paintings are no different than my children; I love and nurture them over a long period of time and feel like my nest is empty when they are taken away from me,” says the artist who is very possessive and reticent about letting her paintings leave her studio, or for that matter of fact, even showing them to anyone else. When she first began working in secret, she would hide the paintings under her mattress after she had finished them, showing them to her guru very reluctantly after much pleading and cajoling. Over time and with gentle nurturance, she became more confident about her work and soon she began showing her works.

Poet, art critic and fiction writer, Prayag Shukla was one of the first people to recognize Bimmi’s talent when he saw her work. He fell in love with her paintings and was adamant she have an exhibition, for which he would write the catalog text. He spent time with her in her studio understanding her process and encouraging her to follow her instinct.

This exhibition features a variety of work done from 2017 to 2019. It is in fact the first time that we see such large format work by Bimmi who has been comfortable working in smaller sizes. The artist has produced around 50 works during the period of two years, working the formats of 4×8, 3×3, 3×4, and 1×6 feet. She has also done works that are 18×13 inches and 18×18 inches, all done with the idea of experimenting with format.

Her mediums remain of course dry pastel, texture white and the incised lines of the cutter-blade. For Bimmi as it is for Anwar, the philosophy behind art is as important as the creation of work, which is why the teachings of J Swaminathan come to bear on their approach.

Artistic production like Bimmi’s is not done with a market in mind, since she comes from a school of thought that believes art cannot be branded and marketed like any other consumer goods. Art answers to the inner spirit, the primeval force of life that drives humankind, and it is for the hunger of the soul that one paints. It is to fulfill a metaphysical need that one paints and that is what Bimmi follows when she picks up her colours to begin working. It is only when the artist reaches a point of rapture that she is able to rest her creative efforts.

The larger works have taken months to create, while some of the smaller works are done as quickly as a day.

“The painting tells me when it is complete,” says Bimmi.

The rest they say is pure alchemy between the painter, the painting and then the viewers.

Georgina Maddox

Art Critic & Curator

New Delhi