Painter Chitra Gopalakrishnan explores the joys and isolation of American motherhood
Chitra Gopalakrishnan at her show at the Hill Street Country Club on Thursday, May 27, 2021 in Oceanside, CA. . (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
It’s all-too-easy to look at the work of Chitra Gopalakrishnan and think it’s simply a bold, declarative celebration of femininity and motherhood. A vibrant mix of surrealism, portraiture and figurative styles, paintings such as “Army of One,” “The Mothers” and “Prickly Pear Cactus” work in themes of feminine resilience and strength.
Dig a little deeper, however, and the work of Gopalakrishnan, with its anthropomorphism and spiked armor imagery, reveals itself to also be working in threads of isolationism, protectionism and even the traumas that women often face.