New Delhi

In New Delhi Rob van Doeselaar met many Indian artists, especially at the Garhi Studios. They lived outside the traditional social structure, purely because of their position as an artist. About almost every painting the artists told me a hidden story. Abstract paintings were full of symbolism. Reproductions of famous paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso greatly inspired them. In India Rob started using symbolism, like paining a lotus or a lingam. He painted texts and signs he noticed on rickshaws, trolleys and everywhere.

Many of the paintings Rob van Doeselaar made in New Delhi had to do with walls as bearers of political messages, election slogans and posters for movies. Discs of cow dung dried against walls after which people could use it as building material or fuel for their stoves. Walls supported also the famous statues at the Hindu temples. Rob considered the walls as the mirrors of the street.