Background
Born in Shegaon, a small pilgrimage town in Maharashtra, Warsha's childhood was spent in the coal mining regions of Eastern India. The wilderness of these early years influenced her creativity. The coal miners and the quarry workers also inspired her. From there she went on to pursue her education in applied arts at Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai. She then worked as a visualiser in advertising agencies like Lintas and H.T.A in Kolkata. After moving to Bangalore, she pursued her love for painting.
Reviews
Times of India, Bangalore, April '99
Warsha, for instance, paints sensuous nudes in line and wash technique, like the sculptor Rodin, but hesitates to picturise the detailed physical organs. However, the sensuousness of particularly the female body, speaking from the usually accepted term, is what is 'felt' while looking at those works. And the question is - should her refusal to detail the body organs be considered as valid while understanding her truthfulness or should one admire the sensuality brought about, even when those figures are incomplete physically. Hence, the difference is a kind of highly valid point. And the affair of painting for Warsha is an act of egolessness, like any other domestic affair.
With the landscapes and a few stray works, there is another dimension seen in the personality of this domestic artist. A chair’s hands turned literally into human hands, a particular mood and season evoked by a landscape – these are 'hinted' by her but not as an effective aesthetic device. In other words, an audience to visual arts is so conditioned that (s) he reads the former as a surreal/symbolic painting and the after as a romantic landscape. But what exactly is evident within these works is not the effect but a sincere effort to bring about those moods. Warsha inevitably draws attention to her prompt intention in her works that in turn, supersedes her artistic skill. Very rarely do works like a male-bearded portrait is produced. The liquefied paint drips down, produces the face as well as seems to pour down that very face, as though the wall and the face are submerged. This particular work intention is to strongly link a being with his abode. However, if the logic of this work is to be considered, it is a work with a direct message, unlike others which deny a statement Warsha’s works, hence like a domesticated being, are split in two multiple but potential pathways.
- H. A. Anil Kumar.
National Herald, New Delhi, Aug '99
Nearly 32 petite paintings by Warsha Lath were exhibited at the Lalit Kala Akademi gallery in New Delhi through July 25 to 31. She has handled oils and watercolours with equal proficiency. The female nudes, interiors and images of old man with a classical touch rule the show.
Her figures are like a renaissance model, casting grace and mystery to the character. Sparse is the optimum word with her minimal use of colour, shape and paint. The blot and thick lines is the magic which has been democratically used by the artist.
Warsha has succeeded in defining the inner grace of a woman reclining, sitting on a chair and busy in make-up goes well with old man quietly sitting in another painting. Woman playing musical instruments or, in another painting, reading or writing are some of the enticing studies made by her.
Some of her works tend to depict similarity with artists from the Bengal school. The black outlines in contrast with subdued colours are the main stressing points in her paintings. She has tried to achieve wash-like effect in her water colours.
In general the show is impressive and worth visiting when one is suffering the sweltering heat as the paintings provide solace to the onlooker.
Warsha Lath studied art at Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Arts, Mumbai. This is her first exhibition in Delhi but earlier she has displayed her work in Bangalore. Her paintings are among important private collections in India and abroad.
- Vijay Bhushan
New Delhi Indian Express, Aug '99
There is nothing very fantastic about her subjects. Warsha Lath who held an exhibition recently at Rabindra Bhawan captures, in her drawings the fleeting moods of everyday life in swift strokes of the brush or the charcoal. The simple yet extraordinarily appealing figures of everyday people are portrayed poignantly in her works. Thus the work reaches out to a wide cross – section of people. It is the not – so – simple simplicity which makes it so easy to approach her work. A product of the Sir J.J.Institute of Applied Arts, Mumbai, gave up a career in advertising to be able pursue her art seriously. Warsha showed for the first time in Delhi. The artist uses the human figure to portray varied emotions. This is done with subtlety and there never is a loud note. The figure may just be day-dreaming, gazing out of the window or playing a musical instrument. Very often Warsha chooses not to clothe the persons who people her work. Of this she says, “Their nudity is not explicit but used more as a spatial form or as an element in the total composition. It becomes a tool here, used to enhance the mood and not the mood itself.”
(Contributed by Nirupama Dutt and Vijaylakshmi Nagraj)
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
- Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore - 1995
- Shrestha Art Resources at Coffee Day, Bangalore - 1997
- Central Lalit Kala Academy , New Delhi - 1999
Group Shows
- Time & Space Art Gallery , Bangalore - 1996
- Images Art Gallery , Bangalore - 1998
- Time & Space Art Gallery at Leela Palace , Bangalore - 2004
- Bangalore Art International organized by Mantram Art Foundation, Lakshana Art Gallery , Bangalore - 2004
- 27 Artists of Karnataka at Lakshana Arts - 2005
Participations
- Time and Space Art Gallery , Bangalore - 1996
- Images Art Gallery , Bangalore - 1998 to 1999
- All India Chitrasanthe organized by Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishath, Bangalore - 2003
Art Therapy
- Art therapist at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore since December 2012