The exceptionally surprising and thought-provoking exhibition Painting Is My Everything—Art from India’s Mithila Region is on view at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco until December 30, 2018. Thirty large-scale works from various artists, predominantly women, transport the visitors into a colorful and deeply meaningful world.
Mithila, a geographical and cultural region in the state of Bihar in north-eastern India, has recently attracted attention for its pictorial art. Mithila painting, or Madhubani art, has been created for centuries using fingers, sticks, and brushes with natural dyes and pigments. The subjects depicted range from deities to common women, from family celebrations, such as weddings, to contemporary events. The result is a series of intricate and hypnotizing compositions in which the background is filled with geometrical patterns as well as natural, symbolic elements.