Not all bright and rosy

With vivid pinks and a hint of irony, Arpita Singh shows how disorienting the world can be for women pushed to the margins

- RITIKA AURORA

Arpita Singh's vibrant, vivid oil paintings often focus on female figures traversing the vagaries of age and the weight of societal expectations. She uses bright colours and packs her visuals together to cover every inch of her canvas, taking inspiration from Indian miniature. This is in stark contrast to the Western concept of showcasing depth through perspective and the strategic placement of figures. And yet, Western abstractionist movements such as Surrealism are also evident in her work.

It’s probably what makes Singh one of India’s foremost female modernists. She was born in undivided Bengal in 1937, and at age 87, is currently showing her first solo institutional exhibition outside India. The show, Remembering, at London's Serpentine North gallery, features works that span more than six decades.