From
a waiter in a small teahouse to ‘bhelwalla’ to an artist may sound
as a long and arduous haul but for Artist Murli Lahoti
it is the truth of life. Born in a village of Parli Vaijanath
and belonging to a well to do farmer’s house Murli
Lahoti ran from home with just eleven rupees in his pocket.
His firm resolution to become an artist as against his
father’s wish to make him work in farm compelled
him to take this decision. In the new city of Pune he
educated himself through earn and learn method. Apart
from working
as waiter, etc he also painted sign boards and pricelist
boards for the grocery shops in the neighbourhood he
lived. Surviving in those conditions was least comfortable
but
that did not let his determination down and by the time
he was through with his education he had already 12th
One Man shows to his credit along with a couple of group
shows. The Artist believes that there is no substitute to work
and keeping on exhibiting works is one of the best ways
to ensure that you never get stuck up. He has a firm
belief that institutions are just means of formally introducing
oneself to the topic and perhaps the technique, rest
all is a self educating process. He took up the most
direct way of educating himself i.e. the experiential
way of travelling. He travelled throughout India from
north to south and east to west trying to gain a first
hand experience of nature, cultures and traditions. He
says the works of the Masters are path guiders but the
true inspiration lies in nature which cannot be gained
through books. All this is very clearly depicted in his
work with immense conviction.
He has his own way of working, before starting with
any new series of work he reads books related to them,
then travels to various places trying to gain the experience
and then only attempts to start his work .The blend
of intellectuality (books) and experience (travelling)
have always got the best out of him. The series of
paintings on ‘Rivers of India’ ‘Rajasthani
Life style’, ‘Indian Festivals’, ‘Landscapes’ etc
clearly reveal the experiential quality conceived by
the artist as a result of his travelling. Similarly
the series of paintings of ‘Kumar Sambhav’, ‘Meghdootam’, ‘Atharveda’, ‘Tantra’,
epics of ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ are
his interpretations of the knowledge conceived by him
through reading the books and discussions with the
artist of other fields like music, dance, poets, authors
etc.
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