At artist Niyamat Mehta’s studio Atelier Della Firenze in Delhi, Salvador Dali’s faces rest, casted in bronze and hydro resin. The twin sculptures exhibit the concept of ‘Lila’ – the divine play of creation and dissolution.
The surrealist painter and printmaker is, in fact, one of the biggest inspirations for the 24-year-old artist who is making big waves in the world of art and sculpting. Mehta also draws from the interplay between consumerism and artistic expression, channelling elements of surrealism influenced by Leonora Carrington and Man Ray.
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In 2022, Mehta was the youngest artist on display at the Pallazo Albrizzi in the 2022 Venice Biennale. Her work has been showcased at the Kensington Town Hall in London and Artesfera di Valmadrera in Rome. This time, at Artix India, Mehta’s bronze sculpture of a horse head, Atman, was exhibited at The Claridges.
Like a true artist, Mehta found her calling early. “I was not very good at studies but I enjoyed art. When I was in school, I made my first sculpture at 17 and it sold. At 19, another sculpture of mine sold. I knew this was my calling and my parents were supportive. I pursued fine arts to learn the art right because I wanted to do it the right way. Throughout the course of my education abroad, I participated and showcased at a lot of exhibitions and have sold my sculptures,” she says.
She comes from a creative family – even though her parents are entrepreneurs, her father loves playing violin, her mother photography and her brother, piano. “I have series called ‘dancers’ in my studio because I was very fond of ballet growing up and have learned the dance form. It has graceful movements but due to lack of time, I no longer practise.”
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Each sculpture takes about three-four weeks from start to finish. She says that no matter if the sculptures sell or not, an artist must show up in their studios everyday. “I work for at least 10 hours a day at my studio. An artist is not a businessman and therefore, they must not think about their sales but enjoy the process. MF Husain, did not worry about sales but painted because he wanted to.” However, she loves to work on commissioned pieces. Recently, when an Indian couple living in Switzerland approached her, she gave them the gift of a lifetime. “The husband wanted to gift his wife something very special on their anniversary. I asked him if he would bring down the moon for her and he said yes. So I sculpted him getting a moon down for her. It turned out to be a beautiful piece,” she says.
At 16, she was selected as a protégé to master sculptor Jason Arkles in Florence, Italy. Expanding her technique under Arkles, she made portraits from life using the sight size method of the old masters and went on to study as the youngest student at the Florence Academy of Art.
Depictions of the ‘Polo Bear’ fashioned in Indian sartorial elegance, set of life size depictions in bronze encompassing the spectrum of human emotion, are some of her fine works. Dali aside, Mehta has found inspiration in surrealists like Leonora Carrington, Man Ray, Leonardo da Vinci and MF Husain.
Her horse sculpture ‘Atman’ was recently showcased at Artix India, India’s first ever hotel art fair, in association with Arushi Arts, at The Claridges, Delhi.
