Bimmi Khan’s work emerges from the interiority of the artist’s subconscious rather than being applied upon the surface. It could be a symphony in blue from a sea, off-white or the warm shades of earth tones. The subtle scratches and slashes left by the blade are like punctuation marks, the floating forms like sailboats in an endless sea creates a calm that washes over and draws the viewer into the vortex of illumination, like the subtle streaks of white sunlight across a darkened room. Bimmi’s paintings are imbued with meditative forces that draw you in, blocking out the din and bustle of the city. While looking at her work, one could be on a mountainside in Ladakh, a beach in Corfu or a quiet street in Russia. The ability of the work to transport the viewer is immense and yet they have very humble beginnings, since Bimmi is a self-taught painter.
Despite being self taught, Bimmi’s compositions appear highly skilled, displaying a mastery over the medium and as well as a fair amount of restraint behind her evocations, the artist, who has been painting for the last 10 to 15 years, is a spontaneous and largely self-taught painter. The presence of dry-pastels, the easy availability of soft-board and the urge to paint, led Bimmi down a path of self-discovery that has resulted in a vast body of work.
Poet, art critic and fiction writer, Prayag Shukla was one of the first people to recognize Bimmi’s talent when he saw her work. He fell in love with her paintings and was adamant she have an exhibition, for which he would write the catalogue text. He spent time with her in her studio understanding her process and encouraging her to follow her instinct.
This exhibition features a variety in sizes of work done from 2017 to 2019. It is in fact the first time that we see such large format work by Bimmi who has been comfortable working in smaller sizes. The artist has produced around 50 works during the period of two years, working the formats of 4×8, 3×3, 3×4, and 1×6 feet. She has also done works that are 18×3 inches and 18×18 inches, all done with the idea of experimenting with format. Her mediums remain of course dry pastel, texture white and the incised lines of the cutter-blade. For Bimmi the philosophy behind art is as important as the creation of work, Art answers to the inner spirit, the primeval force of life that drives humankind, and it is for the hunger of the soul that one paints.