Deepa Khanna Sobti

I am a Singaporean artist, poet and philanthropist. I write a unique poem for every painting that I make and both the painting and the poem are exhibited together. My art style is abstract expressionist and I only use oil paints as a medium and only palette knife as tools. My work is multilayered, using bright colors and a unique blend of contrasting light against dark. The biggest inspiration for my work is nature and the processes of corrosion and erosion, which produce unbelievable abstractions and dramatic stories as the natural pigments, and materials blend and lose themselves in each other. I use only a palette knife since it is held differently from a brush or a pen or pencil, which due to repetitive use, unconsciously move towards already learned shapes and forms from memory. The palette knife draws more on spontaneity and pushes me to steer away from all that is known. I very rarely have a plan or image for the work I start. I ride with whatever comes up without judgment and keep going until it is the eyes and not the mind that finally tell me that a piece is complete. I look for all overall balance and depth without any semblance of particularized form. My eyes seem to love the color black which inevitably seems to find itself into almost all my paintings. I like to challenge my mind with more and more intricate color and shape interactions while still striving for overall balance without succumbing to predictability and form. I have been awarded several global juried awards. I won the Royal Arts Prize, London in 2019. I was selected for the Art Museum Chianciano Italy's Biennale 2015 & 2018 and am selected for the London Biennale 2017 & 2019. I won awards at both these Biennale. I was also a finalist for the Art Gemini Prize UK and a winner of an Honorary Mention at the London International Creative Competition. I won a Recognition Prize by Palm Award, Germany and was shortlisted for the International Emerging Artist Award, Dubai. I have exhibited my work extensively in all over the world with over 43 solo and group exhibitions since 2014. I have four galleries that represent my work on an on-going basis across Europe and Asia. My art and poetry make a strong suggestion to the viewer to investigate their present experience to realize what reality really is. And to see that the world as it is currently understood, is merely a relative imaginary construct comprising mainly of thought. And that even within that thought construct, there is no separation between the individual and the world he inhabits. And to pave the way for the 'Everything' and the 'Nothing' to shine through the mind. As my identity of an artist and writer, I hope to be able to bring about a new way of thinking in my viewers. As they see that they as individuals are not separate from the world, not as a religious or spiritual learning, but just from actual investigation, then there is an acceptance of the world which we live in and there is a compassionate sense of universal responsibility. Since I try to push the viewer to question their most venerate beliefs through a simple investigative prod, the most solid belief, which is in believing that ‘I am a separate, solitary individual in a world that I need protection from’ seems to be questioned for the first time by many. This can then lead to a loosening of all conflict since it is seen that ‘I am not separate from the other or from the world’ and can start a creative and simple, organic process in the mind following the new question – ‘Then who am I?’ As the personal story is slowly let go, there is enormous energy that then comes to the fore available for creativity, compassion, humor, joy and simplicity. 75% profits from my practice are donated to 6 charities that I am closely associated with.