Anshul Mudnani on his twisted approach to painting

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The work of Mudnani is visually impactful and stands out through its vibrant, disconcerting colors and bold lines. At first glance, it can be attributed to expressionism, but differently to the usual expressionist leitmotifs, the subjects of Anshul’s paintings don’t intend to evoke emotions of anguish or despair. To the contrary, the artist says he prefers not to interfere with, what he calls, the conversation between the painting and the viewer. “Modern art has become the opposite, where the artist tells the viewer what they must see,” shares Mudnani while pulling the smoke of a cigarette deep into his lungs. In his notion of art, the interaction that develops between the painting and the viewer should be uninterrupted by an artist’s statement or a critic’s review.

Anshul Mudnani was born in India, in 1978 and spent his formative years growing up in a wildlife reserve, surrounded by the big 5 and soaring nature. He was drawing and painting from a young age, but despite his family’s encouragement, refused to go to an art school. Instead, he got a degree in history and was learning graphic design.

A big change in his life came around his 30’s when he moved to Mexico City to teach English. He found a simple room to rent, which was located literally above his landlord’s garage. Umberto (the landlord) happened to be a local artist who used an old Aztec technique involving pigments, palm extracts and rabbit grease to make paint. One day he invited Anshul to join him in his studio. “It was a mix between old- school and modern space, large as an airplane hangar, filled with paint, tools, bottles, brushes, all that shit…”, remembers Mudnani. That fateful afternoon, having freshly learned to use the old Aztec technique, he painted his first face, applying bright yellow and orange tones on a large canvas, which would define his style for the years to come.

“Sometimes I make mistakes on purpose just to see if they will be noticed as such.”

Like any artist, Mudnani’s passion to create comes from his emotions and in his particular case, he uses painting as a way of coping with his mental states. For many years he has been gravitating towards depression and most of the time he starts painting under the influence of alcohol or other substances. Reflecting on his creative process Mudnani openly tells, “I have no clue why I paint what I paint. It just happens.” His paintings normally depict faces, landscapes and (occasionally erotic) figures. These, rather abstract and somewhat primitive, subjects exist in a distorted reality that Mudnani paints with exaggerated acrylic colors. “Sometimes I make mistakes on purpose just to see if they will be noticed as such,” he shares. Nevertheless, he details and finishes his paintings sober, following the controversial quote (it’s said to be Hemingway’s) “Write drunk, edit sober” as Anshul explains.

“For a long time, I said I was a graphic designer and then English teacher. I can finally say I am an artist.”

Since Mudnani has teamed up with his manager Carlos Toquica from Artok Gallery in 2014, his work has been displayed at Galeria Misrachi, a preeminent art gallery in Mexico City and was scouted for an exhibition of the emerging artists by Art Basel in Switzerland in 2016. In the recent years Mudnani’s technique has become more detailed, but the actual evolution has undergone his self-perception: “For a long time, I said I was a graphic designer and then English teacher. I can finally now say I am an artist.” Currently, he is preparing for his next solo exhibition in Spain.

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