SUAVE: Rashmi Agarwal and one of her silk paintings. Photo by Anand Holla Right: One of the artist’s silk paintings.
By Anand Holla
Before she emerges from her art studio in a flurry of greetings, it seems only inevitable to be taken in by the stunning variety of silk paintings punctuating the walls of her roomy residence in Al Sadd.
“I use dyes for my silk paintings. I love what I can create with them. Paints don’t excite me as much anymore,” says Rashmi Agarwal, now seated by the centre table of her rather vibrant and well-stocked studio.
Over the years, Agarwal’s proficiency in multiple styles of hand-crafted silk painting has established her as Qatar’s foremost silk artist, attested in no small measure by the upper echelons of Qatari society and a long line of art connoisseur expats, all of who have bought her diverse works that traverse nuanced painting and calligraphy with equal ease.
The founder of Qatar-based art community MAPS or Middle-East Art and Silk Painters, didn’t really have to exit her comfort zone and switch to an entirely new territory of silk art. But she did, and successfully so.
That move from paints to dyes unlocked an unexplored facet of the artist in her, feels Agarwal.
“The moment I touch my colour-dipped brush on a piece of silk, I can feel that passion rising in me,” she says, gently tapping her forearm with her fingers, “The beautiful fluidity of the dye colours is such that you feel like you just can’t stop painting. The moment your brush touches silk, the colour flows and dances across the cloth. It’s mesmerising beyond words.”
Having recently given birth to an adorable baby boy named Aarav, the Indian expat hasn’t quite gotten back to her therapeutic obsession. “Paints stay on the surface. Dyes percolate and become an integral part of the fabric. Silk paintings are permanent, washable, and retain the same colour and glow even after a decade,” points out Agarwal, her big bright eyes brimming with passion, “In Qatar, barely anyone uses dyes for silk art. But I swear by it.”
For a self-taught artist who knew precious little about silk art when she moved to Qatar in 2004, Agarwal has scripted her rise through sheer dedication. A native of Rajasthan, Agarwal grew up in Kolkata, racking up degrees in Economics and Finance that had nothing to do with art. “I would make oil paintings after returning home from work,” she recalls.
Almost 14 years ago, Agarwal first tried her hand at silk painting. Initially, she would fumble to even pin the silken cloth on a wooden frame. “I even tried using hoops but I just didn’t know the technique,” she says, smiling.
When she moved to Qatar, she found square frames and thumbtack pins. “One day, I pinned the silk to the frame and made a painting. Back then, nobody was into silk paintings. If someone would buy silk painting materials at Jarir Bookstore, the staff would be both surprised and elated as if some dead stock was being gotten rid of,” she says, laughing.
Since her daughter Yashvi was small, Agarwal resigned from her day-job to tend to her. “So I began ordering materials from the US and started practising with zest. Once Yashvi would sleep at 11am, I would go to my room and paint till 3am. It was mad passion. If I would hear her cry, I would rush to her,” Agarwal reminisces.
Destiny rewarded her effort. Within six months, the International School of London, Qatar, offered her to hold summer camps for their students. She did that for five straight years, teaching the basics of silk painting to several batches of around 130 students each.
Within a year of joining Silk Painters International (SPIN), a member of the Fine Art America, she was appointed as its board member. “I credit my parents, my husband Deepak and Yashvi, for all my achievements. That’s because they made me realise that I had this talent in me,” Agarwal says, “But I had been using only paints. Around eight years back, I learned about dyes. But I wasn’t confident,” says Agarwal.
The process of creating silk paintings using dyes involves attaching the silk cloth to the wooden frame with pins, tracing the design with a special pen, using dyes and any of the numerous silk art styles to paint, letting it dry, ironing it, heating it, and then putting it in a steamer for three-and-a-half hours to fix the colours.
“Since I wanted to learn the process properly, I arranged for veteran Hungarian silk artist Judy Szabo to fly down to Doha, stay at our place, and teach me,” says Agarwal, “After those 14 days, my world was different.”
A cursory glimpse through Agarwal’s studio is enough to know that she has created every conceivable thing using silk art — paintings, scarves, bags, lamp shades, abayas, boxes, vases, showpieces, pots, plates, cups, necklaces, and pillow colours, among others. Agarwal says, “At a Grand Hyatt Doha exhibition, all my lamp shades were sold. That’s because when you create art on silk, the effect is unmatched. You can make anything with silk.”
The tall cabinets house a wide assortment of paints, dyes, and other requisite accessories. “All my materials are imported,” says Agarwal, leafing through her eclectic line of silk scarves made of chiffon, raw silk, the works. “I import them from Japan, China, America, or Italy, depending upon the effect I need and the clients’ tastes. Europeans love the cracked effect with Eastern motifs, while those from this region may prefer designs involving horses.”
Time taken to create these masterpieces — fancy scarves are now her favourite muse — depends on the techniques involved. Usually a piece takes around three hours to make, but Batik art — in which molten wax acts as a resist on the silk scarves and help create stunning patterns —may take even six hours. Agarwal has experimented with ingredients as varied as salt and curdled milk to achieve cool effects.
After holding a series of exhibitions featuring her silk paintings on various mediums, Agarwal wants to enter the fashion world with her designer scarves that pack in a brilliant burst of colours, East-West fusions, and Middle Eastern motifs. Why wouldn’t she? Under her brand Oyster Silk Art, they are anyway selling like hot cakes. “I would like to have my own line of designs,” she says.
It might sound strange, but Agarwal is usually unaware of the colour combinations or the plan before she actually gets down to creating silk art. “It’s when I start painting that it all comes to me. It’s another world there. I don’t know where it will take me,” she says, beaming.
In one of the rooms are her sold — bubble-wrapped and ready for dispatch — and unsold paintings, and in one corner is her first silk painting. “See, there’s no foam under this,” Agarwal says, tapping the frame. “A bed of foam allows silk paintings to breathe, increasing its longevity. I didn’t know anything back then,” she says and sighs.
Agarwal’s paintings sport embroidery, letters from ancient Qatari books, calligraphy bent into wonderful shapes, or words from a Qatari poem stacked into shapes. She is even learning Arabic and practising writing Arabic because she uses those letters. Among her top-selling silk paintings are those of the Doha skyline and the ones with Islamic elements.
One such in-demand piece that she has created multiple times is of Allah-Hu-Akbar, written in a delightful swirl on Earth and from above streams what seems to be an ethereal beam of light. “Ultimately, where do we all go? Everybody gets lost in that light,” she reasons. Some other stunning pieces feature 99 names of Allah and lines from the Qur’an. Then there’s also a desert landscape featuring a camel decked up with Swarovski crystals.
“Silk is a royal cloth and Qataris use a lot of silk. That’s perhaps why many of my clients are Qataris,” says Agarwal, who is also a community instructor for Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar.
Although Agarwal claims to be awful with marketing, the fantastic word of mouth she has earned through her countless workshops at various art centres and events, has held her in good stead. “People usually contact me over mail or phone,” she says.
Her collection commands a good price. The scarves, for instance, range from QR350 to QR2,000, while the paintings stretch from QR1,500 to QR20,000. “I went commercial only seven years back,” Agarwal recounts, “In one of my early exhibitions, a Qatari gentleman asked me for 20 scarves for his daughter. I was reluctant to put a price on them.” However, the Qatari didn’t budge. “He insisted on paying, saying it was the product of my hard work. Till date, he is one of my key clients,” she says.
As the founder of MAPS — a common platform for Qatar’s talented artists to share and showcase their work — Agarwal wishes to see art being elevated to the corporate level so as to encourage talents from all folds. “Qatar is an art-loving country, and I believe this can happen,” she says.
That sounds like almost a miracle, but then Agarwal has always believed in them. Last October, due to a severe health complication, she was bed-ridden. “Following hospitalisation, I returned home, confined to gazing at the ceiling,” she says.
The doctor advised Agarwal to try painting. “I came to this room, picked up my brush and started painting. That day was a miracle,” she says, looking around, “The healing was incremental. Two weeks later, I had resumed taking silk art classes. Silk painting saved me.”
