The captivating and surreal masterpiece stands as a definitive milestone showcasing the formal sophistication and domestic urgency of Megha Joshi’s critically acclaimed From the covid diaries series. Operating as a supreme statement of contemporary original mixed media drawing, this unique creation deliberately rejects passive illustration to establish an authoritative tactile dialogue regarding gender burdens and the domestic realm. The composition presents a finely textured golden shrine holding a purple eggplant wearing a miniature medical mask, while a weightless cluster of bare human feet, severed vegetables, and a long liquid drop of purple paint float above the altar.
This set of Figurative drawings has been like a Covid-19 diary of one woman and her domestic realm. Simone de Beauvoir, the century's most iconic feminist scholar, called the burden of women's housework a "Sisyphean torture." In her book The Second Sex, she says, "Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: clean becomes dirty, dirty is cleaned, again and again, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time: she does nothing, she simply perpetuates the present... Eating, sleeping, cleaning: the years no longer soar skyward, they stretch out ahead, gray and identical. The battle against dust and grime is never won." This sort of sums up the inspiration behind these artworks. So there are vegetables, fruits, and flowers, etc., playful battles with the cleaning series, the tragedy of the death of the pigeon in her studio, etc. Each one is a true story.
Purchase this unique investment-grade original mixed media drawing by Megha Joshi online directly through the The Art Design Project platform.
Original Mixed Media Drawing - Brinjal Shrine, 2020. By Megha Joshi
Brinjal Shrine, 2020
From the covid diaries series
Watercolour on paper mix media
Dimensions: 16 H x 12 W in.
Signed by the artist
Unframed
Megha Joshi, born 1973, is a contemporary Indian artist. Trained as a sculptor from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University Baroda, India, Joshi worked as a set designer and art director for film and television for 10 years before she quit to return to her fine art practice in 2008. She does scale installations such as with incense sticks for The Sculpture Park Madhavendra Palace, curated by Peter Nagy and cotton wool at the Sandarbh residency, Baroda. Drawing remains a constant in her practice. She has been actively participating in shows in India and abroad and has been invited to art residencies in Budapest, Scotland, Japan and Iceland. Her work has been shown at the India Art Fair almost every year. Her solos include ‘I:Object’ and most recently “Rite of Passage”, 2022-23, held in New Delhi. Her works are in the collection of galleries, institutions and collectors in India and abroad.
