Deepa Khanna Sobti
Artist Statement
My art style is abstract expressionist.
The biggest inspiration for my work is nature and the processes of corrosion and erosion, which produce unbelievable abstractions and dramatic stories as the natural pigments, and materials blend and lose themselves in each other.
I use only a palette knife since it is held differently from a brush or a pen or pencil, which due to repetitive use, unconsciously move towards already learned shapes and forms from memory. The palette knife draws more on spontaneity and pushes me to steer away from all that is known.
I look for all overall balance and depth without any semblance of particularized form. My eyes seem to love the color black which inevitably seems to find itself into almost all my paintings.
I like to challenge my mind with more and more intricate color and shape interactions while still striving for overall balance without succumbing to predictability and form.
I only use Oil paints as a medium for my paintings.
About Deepa
I am a Singaporean national of Indian origin.
I have no formal education in art or philosophy. I hold an MBA degree with a finance major but gave up a decade long career in banking in 2000.
Since a very early age, I was very curious to find the ultimate meaning of life and this curiosity led to a life long investigation of the mind and its manifestations.
I began painting in 1999 and starting writing poetry in 2012. I write an original poem for each painting that I make and both are exhibited together.
Overall, my art and poetry make a strong suggestion to the viewer to investigate their present experience to realize what reality really is. And to see that the world as it is currently understood, is merely a relative imaginary construct comprising mainly of thought. And that even within that thought construct, there is no separation between the individual and the world he inhabits. And to pave the way for the 'Everything' and the 'Nothing' to shine through the mind. This is the reason my website is called – www.emptinessisfull.com
Impact of my work – The new question – “If I am not a person, then who am I”
As my identity of an artist and writer, I hope to be able to bring about a new way of thinking in my viewers. As they see that they as individuals are not separate from the world, not as a religious or spiritual learning, but just from actual investigation, then there is an acceptance of the world which we live in and there is a compassionate sense of universal responsibility.
Since I try to push the viewer to question their most venerate beliefs through a simple investigative prod, the most solid belief, which is in believing that ‘I am a separate, solitary individual in a world that I need protection from’ seems to be questioned for the first time by many. This can then lead to a loosening of all conflict since it is seen that ‘I am not separate from the other or from the world’ and can start a creative and simple, organic process in the mind following the new question – ‘Then who am I?’
As the personal story is slowly let go, there is enormous energy that then comes to the fore available for creativity, compassion, humor, joy and simplicity.
Exhibitions since January 2014
o Woman Art Essence, MUSA International sponsored by UNICEF, Paris France, April 2022
o Chronos Group Exhibition, São Paulo, Brazil, March 2022
o W3 Gallery, September-October 2021. London
o DLF Emporia Mall, New Delhi, April 2021. Group show with Indian Masters Paresh Maity and Thota Vaikuntham
o Audi Showroom, New Delhi March 2021. Group show with Indian Masters Paresh Maity and Thota Vaikuntham
o Shibuya Train Station Exhibition, Tokyo, Sept 2020
o Women's Essence Show (UNESCO Sponsored), Rome Sept 2020
o Gagliardi Gallery, London, November 2019
o London Art Biennale, May 2019
o Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong, May 2019
o HT Imagine Fest, New Delhi 2019
o Royal Arts Prize Exhibition, London 2019
o India Art Festival, Mumbai, India 2019
o Chianciano Art Biennale, Italy 2018
o Group exhibition at Gagliardi Gallery, London 2018
o India Art Festival, New Delhi, India 2018
o Bengal Gallery and Jamini Roy Gallery, Kolkata, India 2018
o Group Exhibition, India Habitat Center, New Delhi 2018
o Solo at Galleries Pall Mall, London 2018
o Clio Art Fair, New York 2018
o Gagliardi Gallery, London 2017
o Museo d'Arte di Chianciano Terme, Italy 2017
o Solo at Galleries Pall Mall, London 2017
o London Art Biennale 2017
o Office of the Discerner Art Magazine, Mayfair London 2017
o Spectrum Miami, USA 2016
o Galleries Pall Mall, London 2016
o The Substation Gallery, Singapore 2016
o Vicariato – Palazzo Maffei Marescotti, Galleria La Pigna, Rome 2016
o The Vatican – Palace of the Chancellery, Italy 2016
o Walton Fine Arts, London 2015
o Royal Arcade Galleries, London 2015
o Carousel du Louvre, Paris 2015
o PAKS Gallery and MAMG Museum, Austria 2015
o Art Museum Chianciano, Italy 2015
o Bank Art Fair, Singapore 2015
o Affordable Art Fair, Singapore 2015 and 2016
o Art Rooms, London 2015
o Trispace Gallery, London 2014
o Art Apart, London 2014
o Art Apart, Singapore 2104
Global Juried Awards and Selections
o Woman Art Award 2022, Presented by MUSA International along with UNICEF, Paris
o Contemporary Art Curator Magazine 2021 – Collector’s Vision Int’l Art Award
o Shortlisted for the Wirksworth Art Festival Online Art Prize, UK
o Woman Art Award 2020 (MUSA International with UNESCO Italy)
o Palm Art Award Germany 2018. WHOIS Publisher Prize
o Special Mention for Excellence Art Museum Chianciano’s Biennale, Italy 2018
o Second Chance Prize Palm-Art Award Germany 2017
o Special-Mention of Excellence award at London Biennale 2017
o Winner Royal Arts Prize London 2016
o Selected for London Biennale 2017
o Prize Jubilee of the Mercy 2016, Roma, Italy
o Winner of Honorary Mention, London International Creative Competition 2015
o Finalist, Art Gemini Prize London, 2014
o Recognition Prize, Palm Art Award, Germany, 2015
o Shortlisted for International Emerging Artist Award, Dubai 2016
Charities Supported
I donate 75% profits from the sale of my works to the following charities –
o Rubaroo, India
o Willing Hearts, Singapore
o St Jude’s Childcare Centers, India
o Out of Ashes, Nepal
o Child’s Dream, Chiang Mai, Thailand
o Rang De, India
Collections
My works are held in private collections in the following countries -
USA
UK
China
Singapore
Hong Kong
Lebanon
India
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Canada
Switzerland
Pakistan
France
Germany
Press Coverage and Publications
o Feature and Interview published in Contemporary Art Curator Magazine
o Interview published in Al Tiba 9 Art and Culture Magazine – 10 Questions with Deepa Khanna Sobti
o My painting 'But I Haven't Disappeared' was featured in MUSA Internationals Art Space's UNESCO Sponsored "Woman's Essence"
o My work is included in the 2020 '99 Top Fine Artists of Our Day' book
o My painting 'Before The Questions' was featured in the Harper's Bazaar Magaizine's Turkish edition as part of an interview with Paris art gallery owner Vera Kempf
o Exclusive interview published in four languages by Paris-based art platform Singulart
o International Confederation of Art Critics has published a book with compilation of my art and poems in 2016. The book is part of the permanent collection in the National Library, London and the Oxford University Library. The book is also available on Amazon.UK for purchase
o My work is included in the 2016 Best of International Emerging Artist Award book
o My work was published in the September 2016 issue of the Saatchi Museum magazine London
o My work has been covered in a two-page editorial in Asia’s premier art magazine – Art Republik in January 2016 during Singapore Art Week
o Coverage of my work at the Chianciano Biennale in Art News Report
o Coverage in Business Standard newspaper Singapore after Art Apart London
o Coverage by JonaQuest Art after Art Rooms Fair, London
Critique
International Confederation of Art Critics, London
Deepa Khanna Sobti is a prodigiously talented abstract expressionist artist whose depth of interpretation of reality is outstanding, and is expressed in both her art and her writing.
Deepa paints solely with a palette knife to give her paintings a more spontaneous and gestural feel that reminds us of the typically intuitive and emotional characteristics of Action Art, brought to the scenes by Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, where art is an act rather than an object, a process rather than a product that touches the collective sense of an archetypal visual language.
The irregular patches of colour in her art works create a lyrical image, like a mosaic of flickering light. The densely layered paint is applied on the canvas and the palette knife creates intense areas of vivid colour, which are pure explosions of wonder that remind us of the Art Informel movement and Jean-Paul Riopelle in particular.
Sobti’s compositions are powerful, meaningful, a symphony of flaming colours with a unique taste for harmony and balance. Her paintings are a never-ending journey from light to darkness and back; they vibrate like a symphony that generates substantiality and strength. They are a jubilation of pure emotion that overwhelm the viewer, captures his soul and brings him back to the real world; a world in which the meaning of nature and life are in unison with the power of the universe.
As Deepa herself says in one of her poems: “In one thought, this emptiness contains the entire universe”, and she shares both with us so wonderfully and with such beauty that all we feel is the desire to live that universe. Sobti is an artist that leaves a mark in our consciousness and will surely have a deep impact on the contemporary art scene of today and tomorrow.
Karen Lappon
Copyright © 2015, INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF ART CRITICS
What’s your background?
If I described in worldly terms then I would say that I am formally educated in the area of finance and hold an MBA degree and worked for 8 years in the area of finance. But in terms of who I truly am, I was always a curious child and spent a lot of my energy and time exploring, investigating and contemplating life and truth. I was always a lover of beauty and color and the greatest joy I experienced was in experimenting with colors and designs and in wondering whether the world I see is the only truth there is. I am today a self taught abstract impressionist artist and poet.
What does it mean to you to win the Collectors Art Prize?
I am delighted and honored to receive the Collectors Art Prize since it provides me with a portal to present my work and practice to a wider audience. I am a very private person and have found myself often at odds in fitting into the world. This prize provides a great holding for me at the worldly level which I myself would not be able to access.
What do you think is the role of art in the world today?
The role of art is to provide an immediate sense of beauty and wholesomeness to the world. Art is produced from the heart energy within us all. This energy is not separate from the essence of aliveness or life itself. Art brings us to a love that is common to us all and it brings us a deep joy and peace. It also holds the potential to open within us new realms which contain infinite potential in terms of perceiving the world.
What would it be if you could change one thing about the art world?
I think the true inspiration for all artists is something deeper than the level where the outer world exists. However, artists provide the true balance to the outer world and this aspect should be recognized more and more. Most artists find themselves as misfits in the world of commerce and logic and yet they have to deal with this world where they feel disconnected and misunderstood. Governments and larger institutions should do more to provide more support and opportunities to artists to be able to present their art openly. All heart energy wishes to be shared since it is intrinsically wholistic in nature.
What are your most significant professional achievements?
Winning the Royal Arts Prize London in 2015 which resulted in my first solo exhibition at a major art gallery in Pall Mall London was a significant event for me. Also being selected and awarded at the London Art Biennale and the Chianciano Art Biennale, Italy a couple of times were significant moments too.
What do you wish to tell viewers about your work that might not come out explicitly? What do you hope to inspire with your artwork?
The core of my work and my practice - Emptiness Is Full, is to see that there is no separation ever. Our immediate experience always shows us this and yet our mind cannot focus specifically on this wholistic nature of life itself. So we appear to get lost in things we habitually focus on and start expecting them to give us unending happiness and we start waiting in time which itself becomes a habit. My work sees this confusion with love and presence and examines and explores the various other ways in which we can perceive life. It brings the viewer to their own heart and their own essence which is ever near and filled with love and beauty. It also makes the viewer question their own limited beliefs with amazement and grace, paving the way for coming to new ways of looking at time space matrices and the unending love of life to see itself anew.
My art is accompanied by a poem which I also write and 75% profits from my practice are donated to any charity of the buyers choice. This is the only way that I feel I happily present and enjoy the wholistic nature of my practice.
What advice would you give to the upcoming generation of artists?
I would say that following the heart is all art is about. This aspect should never be compromised on. If we are with the vibration of the heart and it’s gentle joy, then we sense completion already. The essence of art is to go deeper right now exploring the immensity of beauty and joy within this moment. It is tempting to be pulled into linear time or into how the world perceives art, but art is essentially deeper than that and changes the outer world and timelines simply by going deeper than them.
In what direction would you like to see your career go in the next five years?
I recently completed some very large sized works through a commissioned project for a home in Canada which I enjoyed immensely and am very grateful for. I would love to have more opportunities to do very large sized works which are challenging and yet very freeing and enjoyable. I also would love to present my work to an even wider audience.
Country Singapore
Website https://www.emptinessisfull.com
