Arpita Singh’s canvases unfold like dense visual diaries, crowded with floating figures, handwritten text, maps, weapons, domestic objects, and mythic references. Emerging in the 1960s, she analysed and resisted neat stylistic categories, instead borrowing from folk idioms, miniatures, surrealism, and political cartoons to build her own layered visual language.
What sets Singh apart is her unflinching portrayal of vulnerability and violence in everyday life, especially through female protagonists. Her women are anxious, amused, defiant, fearful, and rarely idealized. Over decades, Singh has created a visual language that feels intimate yet politically alert, expanding what figurative painting in India could communicate.
Image credit: India Art Fair