the gallery that wanted to change my colours
One gallery in Delhi, they told me, "Can you make the colours less bright? The international buyers like it more muted." I said ji, these colours are our tradition, the red and yellow are for the goddess, I cannot dim them. They did not take my work. I was not sorry.
Has any gallery asked you to change something that felt wrong to change? Not just a small thing, something that changes the work itself. Did you say no? Do you ever regret it?
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Honestly this hit me hard. I had a gallery once tell me my watercolors were "too pretty" and could I make them more conceptual, more cold, you know? And I sat there thinking... but I LIKE that they're pretty?? That's not me being shallow, that's me choosing to make work that feels like warmth and light and I'm not sorry about it either.
The thing about your colours is they're not just colours. The red and yellow mean something, they're doing work in the painting that isn't just visual. Asking you to mute that isn't a small edit, it's asking you to say something different than what you're saying. And I think that matters so much, especially when the thing they're asking you to dim is literally your culture.
I don't think you'll regret it. I think the paintings that keep their true colours find the people who actually need them.
This really resonated with me too. I had someone once tell me my still lifes were "too safe" and I should try something more challenging, more edgy. And I walked away from that conversation feeling like I'd been caught doing something wrong. But it took me a while to realize, I LIKE painting my little bowls of fruit and jars of flowers. It's not that I can't do other things, it's that this is what I want to look at and spend time with. There's nothing wrong with work that doesn't make you uncomfortable.
Good for you for sticking with what feels true to you. And to the OP, your colours are beautiful exactly as they are. That gallery missed out.
Thank you for sharing this ji. Your still lifes, they are your bowls and flowers, that is what brings you peace and you should make it. Not everything needs to be edgy. In our tradition also there is a place for the quiet things, the everyday, the things you love to look at. The goddess is in the small things also.
And yes, you understood my meaning exactly. Red is not just red. Yellow is not just yellow. These colours carry meaning from my mother and her mother also. I cannot change that for a gallery. If they do not want the work, then the work comes back home with me. I still have it, I still put it on my wall, and people who come to my home see it and understand. That is enough sometimes. 🙏
You understood it exactly right ji. Red is not just red in our work, red is for Durga, for the bride, for the sun that makes the crops grow. Yellow is for the turmeric, for the harvest, for the goddess's smile. So when they say "make it less bright," they are asking me to take the meaning out. Then what is left? Just a drawing. That is not Mithila painting.
Your watercolours, you said "too pretty" and they wanted cold? That is the same thing no. Pretty is also a choice. Pretty is also saying something. Warmth and light are real things to say. I am glad you did not be sorry either. 🙏