Artist Neerja Chandna Peters’ artwork at her solo exhibition Roopa Bheda – Secrets of Form at Bikaner House, New Delhi
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Neerja Chandna Peters, a self-taught artist, gave up her career in medicine to explore the world of abstractionism with colours and fine lines drawn to accurate mathematical measurements. “It is in this world of creating expressions that I find my peace and joy,” she says.
Art, says Neerja, became her way of life as she got deeply invested in the process of ideating forms with geometric symbolisms. Drawing triangles, squares, circles and seeing forms of an inner consciousness in them kept driving her subtly on a spiritual sojourn.
Artist Neerja Chandna Peters’ artwork at her solo exhibition Roopa Bheda – Secrets of Form at Bikaner House, New Delhi
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Neerja is exhibiting 80 of her small and large canvases done between 2019 and 2025 in an exhibition titled Roopa Bheda – Secrets of Form at Bikaner House in Delhi.
Roopa Bheda is a term taken from a Rigveda shloka that describes a good composition in a work of art through its perspective, proportion and colour harmony.
“My exhibition is about the forms that emerge through my spiritual inspiration; they are not as evident as in realistic painting but hidden in the abstractions is a connection to the divine power,” she says.
For instance, one of her largest paintings, titled Monk, appears cryptic but speaks to the audience about the consonance of abstraction and how that must move beyond the contemplative to channelise the inner and outer energies.
Artist Neerja Chandna Peters with her artwork at her solo exhibition Roopa Bheda – Secrets of Form at Bikaner House, New Delhi
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Curator Uma Nair says Neerja positions herself both as the creator and the audience. Her paintings are creations born out of deeper meditation systems and find meanings through laborious repetitions. “Look at the beauty of geometry and symbolism in the works, the artist’s understanding of deeper composition of colours in terms of different combinations and metaphors and the manifestations of the forms,” she says.
Neerja’s artworks demonstrate a unique balance and harmony in use of colours and reflection of light and are striking for their density and complexity of the mathematical aggregations. The comparison of her art with the works of Mark Rothko, Hilma af Klint and Indian neo-tantrik artists such as Biren Dey, O P Sharma and G R Santhosh, surprises Neerja who comes with no art college background.
Artist Neerja Chandna Peters’ artwork at her solo exhibition Roopa Bheda – Secrets of Form at Bikaner House, New Delhi
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
For more than a decade she worked as a general physician with the Central Government Health Services and painted for busting stress after examining 100 patients a day in the hospital. “But soon art became my meditation and retirement was the only option as my job was draining me of my creativity,” she says.
From 5×5 inches to 5ft x 9ft, Neerja’s works strike a balance between structure and crystalline contours. Perfecting the outlines and playing with colours is her forte as she uses charcoal, pigments of paint in acrylics and lithe lines with a mathematician’s precision.
Art is abstract for me, a spirtual pursuit not just a profession or passion, says Neerja who has done two solo shows in USA and one in Australia, besides more than 500 online and offline shows across the country and the globe. Rupa Bheda is her solo debut in India.
At the exhibition, her works are separated under series including geometric abstracts, cosmic series, the journey within, introspection, awakening, samadhi and sadhana. There is a powerful section titled sacred signature series that are abstract calligraphy building on forms of Buddha, Ganesha and Jagannath.
Artist Neerja Chandna Peters with her artwork at her solo exhibition Roopa Bheda – Secrets of Form at Bikaner House, New Delhi
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
In every drawing Neerja draws the central axis first, then draws the patterns and builds up with colours. “I am an early morning person who gets inspired by the hours before dawn and the sunrise. I get my ideas during the amrut bela and the Brahma muhurtham between 2am and 5am. It is the silent spiritual time which births ideas and creations. The way a new day is born when the sun spreads its light, my inner self guides my thoughts into expressions and the forms emerge resonating with the audiences,” she says.
The soul of her paintings is in the density of her lines, gradation of colours and play of light. While Neerja’s works celebrate geometry and symbolism in chromatic hues, the viewers interpret a connection. “Many times I have seen people pausing and bowing before my paintings, seeing chakras and feeling the positive vibes,” she says.
At Main Gallery, Bikaner House (near India Gate); Till February 25; 10am to 9pm
Artist Neerja Chandna Peters with her artwork at her solo exhibition Roopa Bheda – Secrets of Form at Bikaner House, New Delhi
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Published – February 21, 2025 02:25 pm IST
