formal wraps

Walking with large wrapped pots atop their heads, two African women make their way to the market in this painting from Ghana. Benjamin Sebi Amenortey works in an expressionist style, depicting his subjects with long, exaggerated forms and a surreal color palette. He says, "Pots were used in the olden days for cooking, storing water, and may things."

Under an idyllic tree dotted with abundant songbirds, Radha and her Gopies lounge in an enchanted garden of energy. As she plays the flute to celebrate love and compassion on Earth, she holds out her other hand for a songbird keen earn her motherly affection. Worshipped as the Supreme Goddess and source of all energy, the revered deity visibly occupies the foreground of 'Glorious Radha', appearing the closest to the angle of perspective while flanked by her admiring Gopies. A continuous fabric of nature wraps around the Gopies, signifying their eternal blissful love. One Gopi holds out a sacred lotus flower for Radha, symbolizing her role as the womb and origin of Gopies, love and energy. Artist Bharti Dayal creates this divine scene in the Madhubani Style to highlight the significance of Radha in Hindu society, without deviating from the pure nature of her existence. Solid hues and flowing shapes form the composition of this painting, creating blissful emotion proper of a deity.

"Madhubani paintings are in fact a simplistic manifestation of the philosophical heights achieved by Indian civilization for the universal power of love, longing and peace; the quest of all beings," Dayal says.

Arms wrapped around herself in a protective gesture, a naked woman sits alone. Aricadia in Bali paints this moving original portrait in oils and acrylics on canvas.