Magical explorations of an adult world through childlike eyes epitomise the work of Dhruvi Acharya.
Characterised by simplified features, carefully spaced compositions, and plain blocks of colour, Dhruvi Acharya's paintings are deceptively straightforward. The restrained titles and almost cartoonish quality of the images, often featuring masked figures or near-empty speech bubbles hovering over the subjects, belie the fact that they candidly explore the challenges of modern womanhood.
A sense of alienation or separation informs many of the pictures. This can both be traced to Acharya's migration from her native India to the US, where she started painting in 1995, and, less tangibly, to maintaining the part of herself egoistic enough to pursue individual creativity while navigating the self-sacrificing relationships of mother, daughter and 'partner'.
Reference to Indian miniatures, the stillness of Japanese landscape paintings, and the colourful flatness of modern Californian art can be discerned in the work, along with the visual humour and graphic strength of some comic book illustration. The contrast of small blocks of detail and pattern within broader empty space reminds us that things which on the surface may appear simple are often anything but.
Katarina Horrox
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Mid Life Wife, 2005
Pond, 2006
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