“DURGASAPTASHATI” – A Truly Heart Captivating And Mesmerizing Spiritual Paintings By World Famous Artist Udayraj Gadnis

At Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Worli. From 21st to 26th Feb, 2024

MUMBAI/ NATIONAL, 23 FEBRUARY, 2024 (GPN): International renowned spiritual / mystic artist Shri. Udayraj Gadnis has showcased his latest paintings titled “DURGASAPTASHATI” in Nehru Centre art gallery, Dr. A. B. Road, Worli, Mumbai from 21st to 26th Feb, 2024 between 11 am to 7 pm. This exhibition is very significant and very symbolic. Udayraj Gadnis have been painting for the last 30 to 35 years with over 3,000 oil paintings on canvas. But this is the very first time in art journey that he have painted 180 paintings in 180 days and are being displayed together under one roof in one gallery.

Udayraj Gadnis Says “I am really blessed with the blessings of my mother Gitanjali Barve Gadnis and my father Anant Vishwanath Gadnis who during the pandemic time witnessed my journey. It’s an interesting story. I had come to look after my parents in the month of March in 2020 and there was a sudden lockdown. And at that time, I thought the world was to come to an end because you could not even breathe comfortably, corona virus as in those days was believed would mark the end of human race. I thought let me do something unusual and divine and beautiful and so decided to paint the Durgasaptashati. The philosophy of Durgasaptshati is very simple; it’s a story which is unique which reflects on the fight between the divine and the detached demonic powers. It shows that ultimately truth will triumph, victory over human ego and pride, and peace will be restored, somewhere in the near future, at the rate things are going today. Durgasaptashati is now symbolic and important for mankind, taking the inspiration, seeing the beautiful faces & scenes of Durgasaptashati and the war scenes; he realized that there was no reference to how it is seen in the 21st century. So he meditated and decided to paint it from a vision, his inner vision. If we look at those 180 pictures, they contain the original verse, 700 complete verses, which is a beauty in itself, it is not possible to actually see the entire 700 verses under one roof and that’s why he portrayed it in a way that is very important and unique.

He always believes that art that seeps itself in the colors of divinity will remain for a long time and will be viewed by the next and the next and the next generation. It will be inspirational, just the way Indian miniatures have inspired many artists in the past, including me. What is truly important is that today we live in a society that we are blessed with the freedom to paint our own inner vision. He has painted divinity which he sees in his own meditative understanding in his own meditative vision. Durgasaptashati, which is phenomenal in its narrative scale, is also very beautifully captured in various colors. And this is what, he saw in his meditative eyes. Their aim is to bring the audience closer to not just seeing, not just learning, but knowing and experiencing

This art exhibition is dedicated in loving memory to late Smt. Latika Gaitonde, who personally saw and blessed this entire series during the pandemic in 2020. It is her son Shree Girish Gaitonde who had the spiritual power and divine conviction to nurture and support this entire project, understanding and appreciating my vision all along. I am grateful to his entire family for the respect and affection they have always showered on me and my art.Ends