Published: Verve Magazine, Nerve, September 2008

Youthful, enthusiastic and effervescent, Priti Kyal’s personality flows onto her canvas and paints it in colourful hues while being rooted in a spiritual reality, finds Sitanshi Talati-Parikh

Priti Kyal’s painting style is intuitive, with a lot of motifs, design and texture, reminiscent of the saris worn by her mother. “The figures in this set of works are?small representing that we are a tiny part of the large cosmos. I have used the tree of life to reflect growth and sustenance, while the doors and windows reflect change.”

Working off traditional canvas, Mumbai-based Kyal believes that she will move towards a medium like installation, only when her thoughts need to be translated in that form.?“I unlearn everything I have already done by trying new media.” The artist, who is completely satisfied with ink at this moment, finds that despite its simplicity, it is capable of a great deal – “It’s so uncomplicated that it’s thrilling!”

Change is what motivates Kyal: “The thrill of discovery is what keeps me moving on. My work is not about the most perfect face or the most perfect picture but it is about the expression of thought.”

Talking about her buoyant and feminine choice of colours, the artist who recently had her third solo show at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, explains that her works are about herself. “The colours I use reflect my mood.?I have used soft pinks, oranges, mellow yellows and firoza (turquoise). In that sense, the works are autobiographical.”?Much of her current collection has the words ‘I Am That’ painted on, which Kyal describes as ananda?– the unity between the atman and the parmatman.?Similarly, she seeks a union between her work and herself, so that there is no duality. “I Am That, is a state where I Am My Work.”

The artist, who has a background in English literature and Indian aesthetics, dabbles in poetry, often finding herself scribbling spontaneously onto the painting. Art is simply a medium to express that which is most important, forming a montage representing small vignettes of her life.