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Born with cerebral palsy in 1974, Puja N. Pandya is a special child. Even though she doesn't have control over her upper limbs, she doesn't allow it to throw a spanner in her works. She creates artistic impressions and gives art lovers a glimpse of her creativity. Despite being disabled, Puja had been painting with colour sketch pens and poster colours since childhood. She intends to explore the vast and complex world of art. Now the Capital's discerning art lovers will be able to have a dekko at Puja's exquisite works of art at Collector's Stop at D-21A, South Extension-II from October 27 to 31. At the solo exhibition titled "My Autobiography", Puja's paintings, sculptures and murals will be displayed. Earlier works of Puja were limited to lines and shapes. Later on, she painted almost abstract colour forms in bulk. She passed her Class VIII examination from the National Open School, New Delhi, in May 1999.
Puja's long list of achievements include first prize in various drawing competitions. She had also bagged the consolation prize at the fifth All-India Special Arts Competition organised by Very Special Arts in 1999. According to art critic Bansilal Dalal, one should not examine Puja's creativity from an academic point of view but purely from a creative view, most importantly, an art therapist's angle. When her paintings are seen from these points of views, the results are really astounding and worth appreciating. "Some of the paintings of Kumari Puja remind us of `American abstract expressionist' paintings but they are undoubtedly her own original paintings that need to be seen with an open mind," adds Dalal. Other critics believe that in spite of her disadvantage Puja has been able to create a rhythm in her forms. "Her work has a childlike innocence which gives sheer joy of the colours she uses, and each of her meaningful strokes give the movement of an active mind. It can be left for the viewer to decide and imagine what kind of emotion they feel. It could be just pure pleasure,'' believes art critic Veena Kohli. -- Madhur Tankha
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