Madhvi Parekh (b. 1942) paints with the sense of spontaneity.

A self-taught painter, the source of her inspiration is the world she was most familiar with, the world of her idyllic childhood spent in a small village in Gujarat. She remembers the colours, sounds and images; the Holi and Diwali festivals, colourful Rangoli designs on the floor on festive days, the Ramlila performance in the village, Bahurupi Bhavai wandering around the village, assuming the guise of a monkey, or a bird or even a mendicant, and the cattle decorated on special occasions. All these myriad shapes, images and colours began to emerge in Madhvi’s paintings, done in a style both naive and sophisticated. These reflected a pantheistic world where nature, man, animals and birds co-existed in complete harmony.

Madhvi’s works soon developed a style which could be termed as modernist, with an affinity towards the style of the modern masters like Paul Klee and Joan Miro. But Madhvi has not lost her early exuberance. On the contrary, she has also been able to strike a successful balance between folk art and modern art.