Rashmi Malhotra, playing with colours and shapes
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Rashmi Malhotra, playing with colours and shapes

Rashmi's signature style of painting is ‘linear angular abstract art'

Rashmi Malhotra, playing with colours and shapes

Ever since she was a little girl, the vibrant colours and shapes of Madhubani paintings fascinated Rashmi. From a very young age, she was drawn towards traditional forms of art and eventually decided to pursue this passion of hers.

Rashmi Malhotra (58) is a resident of Dwarka, Sector 19 and is also an established painter. Though she did her masters in Mathematics, it didn't hinder the creative side of her and she went on to get Master's Degree in Painting from Gwalior University. She has also done an Art Appreciation course at the Delhi Museum of Art. However, these two fields of knowledge are not mutually exclusive for Rashmi. Her knowledge of Mathematics, especially shapes and geometry clearly reflects in her art. She acknowledges the fact that her keen observation and knowledge of mathematics has helped her deliver Linear Angular Art.

She believes that painting is where her soul has always lied. Her thought processes and ideas reflect on her canvas. Rashmi's signature style of painting is ‘linear angular abstract art', where she plays and experiments with lines and shapes to give a visual representation to her thoughts. She has also gained immense acclaim for this form of art.

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Rashmi's parents and upbringing has a lot to do with her juggling between studies and art. Though art was always Rashmi's first love, she was not allowed to put her studies in the backseat. She says, "My mother was a principal of our school and that is why she was very serious about my studies. She wanted me to become a teacher and somehow I followed in her steps. I got a government job but after some years I left it to do an M.A in Painting after my marriage. Now, I am  doing my PhD in painting.”

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Rashmi's interest in art was also spiked because of her father. Rashmi says, “My father was in the ministry of education and he used to bring Kangra painting books at home. The miniature art and pointed eyes of the painting always mesmerized me. He used to encourage me every time he saw me painting and I'd spend days just doodling and painting when I was a child.”

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While talking about her childhood, Rashmi says, "I remember that I used to read storybooks like Chanda Mama, Sujata and they had these sketches which used to captivate me a lot. After reading the books, I used to paint those sketches with red, black and blue pencils.” This one of the early instances when Rashmi realised the artist within her.

Though Rashmi's signature art form is 'Linear Angular Abstract Art', she has also tried her hands at numerous Indian traditional art such as miniature, Madhubani, tenjor, kangda, warli painting, pahari paintings, Kerala art. She makes her paintings in different mediums like oil, acrylic, impasto, knife, texture, and pen work.

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Rashmi believes that art is not just about creating something, but it is a form of meditation and therapy which holds the power to heal people from within. Therefore, she decided to teach art and started her institute in 1993 by the name 'Infinity art studio' at Paschim Vihar, Ashoka Enclave.

Rashmi's creativity didn't only come out on canvas, rather, she made everything around her a canvas, be it the walls of her home, pillow covers and even her mother's saree. She draws inspiration from Hindu mythology for her art. Her work depicts mythological stories such as raslila, Ramayan and so on. Apart from that, she also draws inspiration from social issues and cinema.

Rashmi's work has been celebrated and appreciated at several national and international platforms. Her paintings have travelled to countries such as Spain, Dubai, USA, United Kingdom, Denmark, Budapest and Hungry.