This world, the one we live in today, has existed timelessly and will continue to do so in our perception, changing in millions of ways every minute, yet fundamentally unchanged over all the millennia of its existence. It has a history where events happened at different times, a geography that transformed over time, human society that progressed with skills, knowledge, lifestyles, science and technology, stories and myths that have been passed down generations, and a wealth of natural flora and fauna that essentially do not change unless disturbed. If the constant framework of ‘time’ and 'place' were to be removed from all the aforementioned worldly realms, they would begin to co-exist in an amorphous haze along with millions of emotions traversing our mind-space – and that would be the nearest description of Heeral’s style of painting.

Heeral’s work presents the world as she sees it in her mind’s eye – as a composition of images and forms unbound by any rigid framework of time or space, but all of them mutually connecting in a limitless void, interacting with each other, referencing, learning from, growing on and also liberating each other. The narrative of her paintings is unhindered by any boundaries of perception and simultaneously eagerly influenced by images and stories from vastly different times and worlds, often having metaphorical references.

The currently showing body of work also displays Heeral’s growth as a painter, where every painting seems to demand more from her. As she works on a piece, she finds herself adding more layers over time, struggling to find a satisfactory creative acme. This only means more joy to the viewer (or the owner) of her works, who has unending layers to explore and an alternative orientation to the usual journey of the eye across the surface of the painting, as one is led into ever deeper depths of her creation. As one collector of her works confesses, her art has the capacity to grow on you over the period of ownership.

Yet, in all the intriguing multiple layers of vibrant colour and seemingly unconnected imagery, one can find a captivating story of the painter’s (and the viewer’s) quest for that wonderfully lyrical and liberating harmony, the wings for limitless flight. Many of the large paintings have her old favourite forms of the dark and white Taj Mahal silhouettes and its floral friezes rendered in flaming red, as in ‘Hands of Magic’, as a recurrent metaphor for all that the structure represents and also for all that is just hype around what it actually is not. In ‘At the End of Every Rainbow...’ a fragment of a glowing yellow Islamic arcade frames a perspective of a rich green wealth of flora and fauna lying beyond it, amidst which a woman searches for something that seems buried

The 'Other Side of Light' seems to explore the inescapable inherent 'other' that must exist in every person or object, the mandatory coexistence of bright and dark or Yin and Yang. 'Roots of Tranquility' uses an Egyptian theme and motifs to dig the depths for peace, while 'Our Story' seems to be putting the female protagonist's journey of motherhood into perspective.

'In Oneness of Silence’ has a central clustered column of various fish and birds flowing in a nebulous fluid which could be either water or sky, of similar composition as ‘Fruits of Labour’ depicting women satisfactorily gathering fruits clustered around a central tree. Whereas ‘Gathering Thoughts of Reason’ picturing women plucking flowers from a garden evokes a completely different emotion, one of an endless search for something perfect...

‘Songs of the River’, a series of ten paintings, uses undefined fragments of river to show up the life within the clear water as well as to reflect the life without, making possible the amorphous co-existence of Heeral’s imagination. The first work of the series depicts a river of amber reflecting an old set of stairs leading to a space with ancient lanterns. The third one makes peace with the present by showing the idyllic laziness of a spider resting in its web spread across the richly cluttered river-bed, while the fourth one dwells in fantasy by having a dragon amidst numerous city-scapes surrounding their own sky-apertures. A later seventh one has mythical winged creatures showering flowers, floating among the pooja flowers themselves in water that is purple... is it polluted? Another one along the series uses the Titanic's wreck as a theme, the juxtaposition of earthly grid-lines, falling furniture and a baby over fragments of snowy icebergs, shoals of fish in fluid dark waters proving to be ever so evocative!

Heeral's brilliant, layered scapes (land, water or sky as they may be) dominate the space of her art over the figures and objects which are tiny in comparison, just as in life, she is capable of appreciating the bigger picture, working out the tiny details only to bring about a graceful denouement to that larger whole. From an artist who regards her gift of painting as a privilege to be enjoyed rather than a profession to be extensively practiced, these works are, indeed, precious offerings. Her works are on display at the Tao Art Gallery, Worli, Mumbai till the 20th of Februaury, 2018 from 11 am to 7 pm. You can also put up your own art or message on a 'wing' on the pin-up board.