A Singaporean architect and artist devoted to blending cultures and religious symbolism from across the world, is looking for a second opportunity to showcase her wide range of art works in India to create a harmonious world.
A graduate from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in New Delhi, Lakshmi Mohanbabu is now showcasing twenty art pieces at a Singapore gallery.
The Kerala-born artist had showcased her work at Kochi's OED gallery in February this year and is now working on another exhibition in one of the major Indian cities.
"We see big opportunities to showcase our art in India and it is the right time to return to the country of my origin with another exhibition," said Lakshmi, now a Singapore citizen.
"The world we live in today is a melting pot with cross border influences, a theme that has fascinated me with art being my medium of expression," Lakshmi said.
"India epitomises this concept of a melting pot with its unique position, long coastline and age old lure of spices, that made it a great trading nation, along with centuries of foreign invasions creating a mini cosmos of the world within its borders of a mix of European, Persian, Mongol and indigenous Indian cultures, an interaction that gives it a culturally diverse heritage," elaborated the 47-year old artist.
The daughter of a technical officer with United Nations, she has grown up in Nepal, Sikkim and Afghanistan and completed her degree from India's Manipal University.
This was the time she captured the South Asian concepts.
Lakshmi uses mandala concept and hopes her work will create "a unifying and harmonious kind of world with no religious bias."
She blends her South Asian concepts with Oriental symbolism, such as Ying-Yang.
Lakshmi said her paintings are divided into colour and shade, height and depth and linked by a single line that constantly returns to where it started.
She has used her training as an architect and in particular her study of global architectural forms and buildings to give the impression of three dimensions.
"Interdependent, raised and depressed arrows going in opposite directions is the overarching visual theme of my work," said the former art teacher, now devoting full time to artwork.
Lakshmi also designs jewelries and has worked with leading Indian designers including Tarun Tahiliani and JJ Valaya.
