How artist Mohit Mahato says it with flowers

Mohit Mahato’s first solo show, Bring me flowers, features simple line sketches inspired by nature

“I want people to be relaxed and enjoy my show. There is no life-changing message I am trying to convey with my work. It is about the joy of creating and sharing that happiness with others,” says Mohit Mahato.

The artist, who hails from Jamshedpur, is hosting his first solo show at Gallery Sumukha. Mohit’s sojourn into the world of art stemmed from an unfortunate firecracker accident when he was in higher secondary school. His elder brother, who was working in Bengaluru at the time, urged his mother to encourage Mohit to start drawing again.

“He suggested I start with the basics of lines and curves using my right hand, telling us there was a college of fine arts in Bengaluru where I could study further — something that was unheard of at the time in my hometown,” says Mohit, an alumni of the College of Fine Arts at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.

After graduation, he went on to work at Gallery Sumukha for seven years; a stint that ended earlier this year. “When you work at an art gallery, you are constantly dreaming of hosting your own show someday, of how you would work within that space etc. That was a time of learning for me,” says the artist, who used to assist at the gallery in multiple roles.

Two years ago, founder-director of Gallery Sumukha, Premilla Baid, had told Mohit he could host his show there if he could produce a substantial body of work; the result is Bring Me Flowers.

Delicate lines which seem repetitive, but necessary are a huge part of his drawing. While most are done in balck and white, a few sport a single colour, making its effect on the canvas more pronounced.

In 2017, Mohit began Pagal Canvas — a publication house that printed art books and graphic novels, and collaborates with different multimedia practices, in partnership with his friend, Anand Shenoy, who was a comic book artist.