Enchantress

Oil colors on canvas provide the artist with a wide scope for experimentation. Primarily bright colors serve to capture the gloss and illusionism of oil painting. In this painting, the artist seduces the viewer with color so ravishing that the strong pull it exerts on the senses makes analysis of the content difficult and elusive.

Posing here is a Persian aristocratic female - noble and aloof. Ethnic and laden with signs of tradition in attire and accessories she stands in a stiff pose. Wrapped in yards of colorful fabric that is not only colorful but unique in style. The upper garment is a front open coat with full sleeves. the lower garment is a multi-layered, unusual skirt. Around the shoulders is a 'chadar' or a shawl that further conceals her contours. The head-dress that she wears is elaborate and interesting. This, together with clothes display opulence and regality.

The woman has idealized features, yet the face is strangely impersonal. One cannot deny the delicate sensuality and natural dignity that she possesses. The painting is quite complex at the level of interaction of painterly and scholarly construct.

The foreground consists of chequered tiles, the black and white of which offsets the otherwise bright palette. The drapery in the background is ostentatious, balanced by the dull colors of the pillar. The gloss and evenness of the intense glowing paints against the vague, dark background is quite entrancing. In an almost unobtrusive way, the pensive refinement of the subject comes through, drawing you, inviting you, and enthralling you.

This description by Renu Rana.