Nratya Leela: the dance of the gopis

The 400-year-old Pichwai painting originates from the holy city of Nathdwara near Udaipur, Rajasthan. At the end of the 16th century, artists began to create pictorial illustrations on fabric hung on the wall to decorate the temples of Shrinathji (Krishna). It was a scene from the legendary life of a God that gives meaning to love. Sushil Soni comes from a long tradition of artists who use traditional knowledge of know-how with religious themes. However, he modernizes this art form by extracting certain aspects of the setting (lotuses, cows, for instance) and creating individual interpretations of them. This has created a new artistic language that found favor with collectors of religious art. He has participated in art exhibitions and festivals in the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and even Japan.