MALENY ARTIST Marianne Osborne will present her third exhibition – “Masala” – around the walls of Maleny’s UpFront Club this month. The opening will be in the evening of Thursday March 18 and will run to Tuesday April 20.
“Masala” is a blend of ‘mixed spices’ representing the mixture of Indian influences.
Marianne says she feels a degree of trepidation when dipping her paintbrush into other people’s culture. “Observations by an outsider can be both trite and presumptuous and I would hate to offend”, she says.
“These paintings have been inspired by my visits to India and the deepest impression left by that country is always the huge and extreme contrasts of rich and poor.
The riches of the Raj may now be replaced by the moguls of industry and business enterprise, but the contrasting poverty becomes greater by comparison.”
Some of Marianne’s paintings explore the idealised visions of the Mogul emperors set against the harsh poverty and hunger that remains ever present in this remarkable country of social contrast.
Other influences are the richly ornate temples and artifacts, the embroideries and miniatures, the vivid colourings and the evocative shapes of traditional Indian architecture.
“Imagination, fantasy and a touch of socio-political comment are what I aim for”, adds this thoughtful painter.
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