Human figures rarely inhabit Manish Chavda’s world, and the animals and birds found in his landscapes are always few in number. He strives in his work to evoke a meditative experience, expressing the inner life of things through his slow and savoured process. ... The simplicity of his style, and of his subjects, make his representations seem natural and organic, yet Chavda creates unique associations and relationships between them. What stories do they tell: the moon and the white champa, the cow and the single leaf, the squirrel and the small bird? With languorous strokes and layers, he builds an atmosphere bordering on the spiritual, but his works remain devoid of devotional reference and function. Chavda usually chooses a base colour and then explores it at every level of transparency, from nearly black to practically white, through the spectrum. Probing every possible variation through oil, he builds texture through colour as much as his deft, delicate brushstrokes.

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