Horse Rider in the Moonlight

Madhvi Parekh’s ‘scratched’ paintings recall the surface pattern of lipai done by village women on walls and floors using a mixture of mud and cow dung, though she achieves the effect using finer bristles. Rather than brush across the entire canvas, she uses it to suggest depth, movement and perspective. The soft palette here alludes to the moonlight in a world where a night rider bids adieu to his family in a forest alive with varied creatures. This peopling of the canvas is a reminder of the human race imprinting its presence with art since pre-historic times, through cave paintings, for instance.