Neha Sahai is a 36-year-old Indian artist who paints a whimsical world of wildflowers, forests, and love stories. Her artworks based on love stories portray a whole story such as a fish falling in love with a bird or a moth falling for a moon.
She is a self-taught artist with a design degree, Neha started her journey of painting three years ago. Her painting journey began when realizing she has many stories to be told. “What could be a better medium than colors to express emotions,” says Neha, colours are something that has fascinated her for as long as she remembered.
Though her take on art is quite modern but her approach is rooted in her culture. Neha’s works are inspired by a tribal art form – “Gond art” where art tells folklore and is articulated with different strokes of lines and dots. The bold use of colors in her artwork is also something very indigenous to her culture.
Her artwork depicts an unhurried, laid-back, non-mechanized world. It relates to an era where greater joys could be found in smaller things, like the smell of the earth, the beauty of wildflowers, the sound of laughter, the light of stars, and the feeling of being wild and free.
“I paint a whimsical world not to escape reality but to be able to live in it,” says Neha. She cherishes her childhood memories of living amongst the tree and wishes that future generations could cherish them too. All the proceeds from her artwork go to planting trees, so no other soul cries over a leafless tree.