Vishakha Hardikar

Mumbai

Vishakha Hardikar (b.1981) has been a painter for twenty years, an artist for forty-one, but a storyteller forever. Her canvases, detailed in oil and acrylics, are not mere images but layered stories. Each painting becomes a stage where the characters perform under her direction. Growing up in Ujjain, a city renowned for its Bagh Prints created using vegetable dyes, Vishakha was immersed in decorative patterns that left an indelible mark on her creative psyche. These prints shaped her visual language, infusing her work with the essence of Indian miniature and folk art traditions. Influences from Kangra, Mughal, and Jain pothi (manuscript) styles further deepened her storytelling vocabulary.

The roots of Vishakha's artistic journey trace back to her maternal grandmother, whose tales sparked her fascination with narrative, a passion that now finds expression in her paintings. Experimentation fuels her work as she blends contemporary pop elements with intricate detailing, bold colours, and mythological tales. Repetitive floral motifs, reflective of her childhood memories, anchor her compositions, evoking comfort and nostalgia. A storyteller’s soul cannot stray too far from cinema, and so it was with Vishakha, for her works are not just paintings but opportunities to perform within the cinematic worlds she adores. Through her depictions of her favourite films, she brings to the canvas the drama, emotion, and humour of some of the most impactful protagonists of that era. The figures she paints are stark, two-dimensional, and vibrantly alive, becoming her way of revisiting long-forgotten memories while asserting her place within these stories. Vishakha’s canvases bring forward superheroines who exude guts, glamour, and glory. Her art, though deeply personal, strikes a universal chord. The figures she creates hold a mirror to her soul and ours, revealing beauty in simplicity.

She completed her B.F.A. from Indore Fine Art College (2004) and pursued Animation and Film Designing from ZICA Mumbai (2006). Her notable solo exhibitions include Once Upon A Time (2023), held at Gallery Veda in Chennai and curated by Annapurna Madipadiga, which showcased her storytelling prowess through paintings inspired by traditional Indian narratives, and Katha Kathan (2023), presented at the State Art Gallery in Hyderabad, featuring ten sections narrating different aspects of the artist's world and reflecting emotions like love, anger, and mischief. Additionally, her work has been recognized through participation in exhibitions at the prestigious Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, further establishing her presence in the Indian art scenes that seem to emerge from the stories, films, and imaginations we all share, reflecting our collective cultural memory.