It was a smack to his face that propelled visual artist and illustrator Dinshaw Mogrelia, now 83, towards a career in the arts. "I must have been about 10…I was playing with my younger sister and I tripped over a wire… This angered my brother Minoo who was sketching… He slapped me… I did not say anything to him but there and then said to myself, ‘I will do better than him,’” the senior reminisced on the sidelines of his first solo exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery. "As I grew older, I realized I was quite good at my art work and my brothers also appreciated the quality of my sketches… This is how my journey into the art world commenced.” Titled "Phobias,” the show exhibited over 120 of Mogrelia’s pen and ink as well as watercolor works between June 21-July 4, 2022, his versions of the many fears that can plague humans.
The artist told us that his image of liticaphobia, the fear of lawsuits is "getting a lot of love… Many people have asked for that.” The image depicts a crouched figure apparently being beaten about the head by a set of gavels. Pointing to a somewhat grotesque, bound figure with large feet depicting merinthophobia, the fear of being tied up, "this is the central art installation of the exhibition… a compulsory selfie point,” he said, A walk around the exhibition reveals portrayals of some very unusual fears — ranging from that of pretty women, to clocks, to fear of painful bowel movements. "Koi kéhse ké dalindar laagéch (some may say the images look inauspicious) but I love them all equally,” stated Mogrelia.
"There is no fixed process as such (to my art). It is all about what comes from within,” says the artist who studied at the Sir J. J. School of Art and retired from the art department of the reputed architectural firm Talati and Panthaki in the late 1980s. "Some are based on things that I see or hear or read in the news… It is all in the mind. That is the theme of the exhibition. Yes, sketching out my fears does help me overcome; does help me understand and deal with the fear a little better. Phobias are irrational fears ... My creations should help people see the phobia for what it is… It is just in your mind.”
Top: artist Dinshaw Mogrelia; above: some of his works
As he showed us around the images done between the 1960s and now, the soft-spoken senior revealed, "I battled a few adversities. It took me a lot of time to overcome these fears and anxieties… I would scribble my thoughts and feelings… I would discard these sketches. Some I would keep aside and revisit later. Over time, I developed a certain style, a certain expression…I do paint, doodle and sketch even now… the last of these images was done only last year… This is a once in a lifetime event for me…I never expected this to take place on such a big scale and get such a lovely response,” he stated.
"The idea of having an exhibition curated by Hetal Shukla developed over time, says Mogrelia’s son Hanoz. "Every year that Dad went to the Kala Ghoda Art Festival and met Shukla, he showed him his sketches and renditions… Shukla felt that Dad must do something with this.” The first step was collating the sketches in a book. "Dad’s close friend and colleague Raju Shukla (also Hetal’s uncle) helped put together the book of phobias.” The book was shown to the officials at the Gallery. "They allotted Dad a week to exhibit in the central auditorium of the Gallery. This whole process must have taken seven to 10 years.”
Dinshaw’s focus and dedication towards the mysterious subject of phobias was "fascinating,” said Hetal. "Looking at this body of work I thought he is amongst very few artists who has worked for six decades on one theme.” Appreciating the "intensity of the emotions and meticulous renderings compelled us to plan for a grand show,” Hetal stated. "An artist showing his work for the first time at the age of 83 felt like a great idea that can inspire artists of all ages.”