Monika Monalisa By Express News Service BENGALURU: For artist Susanna Niederer, there is nothing in the world that art can’t heal. Currently, Niederer is in Karnataka for an exhibition to raise money for underprivileged cancer patients. The event, Sangam, held at Ibis Hotel City Centre recently, was organised by Swasti Art Gallery in association with HCG Cancer Foundation. The exhibition also had artists hailing from Switzerland, United States of America, Lebanon, Kazakhstan and India. With an elaborate use of bold colours, Niederer’s paintings stood out with simple use of colours and a clean visual spread. “It definitely is the odd one in the row of paintings,” said Niederer, while checking out other paintings exhibited by other artists. “But all of these paintings looked extraordinary though,” she added. Speaking about her art Niederer said her art is inspired by the Kannada script. “The letters that they use in Kannada look so different and unique that I couldn’t help but create something out of it. I have tried to come up with a different alphabet which is inspired from the script used in the state,” said 63-year-old Niederer, who hails from Zurich. Since it’s her first visit to Karnataka, she came across the alphabets for the first time. “I still can’t understand the language and I guess I will take a long time to learn it. But the alphabets itself were so beautiful that I almost tried to create new alphabets for a new language,” she said. After living in Washington DC and Los Angeles for a while, she returned to her home town in Basel to study Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian literature) and art history. Keen on learning new things, she also took up courses in film theory and photography in Mexico and Paris. Having worked as an editor for various publishers and becoming an assistant director for several films on contemporary art broadcasts, she juggled her time between her work and studio. But in 2000, she focused on painting so that she can devote ‘unconditional time’ to this medium. Currently, she has two art studios in Zurich. Apart from European culture, Niederer is heavily influenced by Asian culture and art forms. Since 1995, she has has been travelling extensively in Asia and the Far East. Since 1999, she has showcased her work in Switzerland, Germany, France and Japan regularly. “Before coming to India, I was in Japan so probably that’s why you can see that I have tried to give a little Japanese twist to my exhibited painting,” said Niederer. A huge admirer of Mughal art, she added, “During my earlier visit to India, I stayed in New Delhi to learn more about Mughal art.”

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