Times of India 
Headline: Colourful feelings on canvas

She paints with her heart more than her head. And this might be the reason
why we don't hear of Odette Gonsalves often enough - an artist who keeps
changing her style as she please, though suprisingly consistent in her
choice of medium, oil on canvas. While her favourite subject, horses,
display flamboyance at its extreme, her abstracts of city life and
paintings of classical music vibrations is more noticeable for the fine
mixing of colours. Whereas her Goan fisherwomen in all styles display a
diminutive stance touching reality.

Odette who has so far held 23 solo exhibitions in a career spanning 32
years of artistic existence is presently holding an exhibition at ANZ
Grindlays Bank which started on October 4, will continue till October 16.

A student of Elphinstone Art Institute and Bandra School of Art, Mumbai,
she started her career testing the waters with cubism which captured the
deft and neat touch of a budding artistic talent. But not a person to be
satisfied doing the same thing forever, soon she turned to realism and her
favourite subjects of all time - horses. A racing fan since childhood who
love horses for the magnificent creatures they are, her canvas captures
them in all their glory. The exciting combination of power, speed and
confidence which they depict, whether as a race horse, or a wild stallion,
is all captured by Odette as only a true horse lover can. Her horses are
muscular beastly beauties.

Odette paints whenever she feels like painting, just giving an outline of
what is on her mind. She paints at a stretch for a long time and then
leaves it when she gets tired of it, to give the finishing touch later.
When the surroundings affect her greatly it results in the reproduction of
her feelings on the canvas. Like during the riots in '93, when the city
burned, the terror and agony she saw on the streets, gave way to paintings
depicting the anguish she felt. This in her exhibition titled `Impressions
of life in Bombay' had drawn much admiration. She also does copies of the
great masters like Turner, Rembrandt and Gainsborough.

However, her favourite subject remains chiselled stallions, whose spirit
she identifies with herself. She lends a `more live' look to their
paintings. And earlier this year at her exhibition at Turf Club titled
`Clash of the Titans' three of her painting were sold for Rs 5 lakh which
went to the `Disabled Jockey's Association.'

Besides painting, she is also interested in music. She is also an interior
decorator who won the title `Queen of Decor' by Berger Paints from
contestants all over India for remodelling the interiors of her seaside
apartments at Bandra, for displaying the highest creativity utilising
minimal funds. Her paintings are on display on Internet at www.painternet.com.

Courtesy The Times Of India
Forwarded by Eddie Fernandes.  e.fernandes@ucl.ac.uk