Dr. Vasundhara (Vasu) Tolia
Michigan
Dr. Vasu Tolia is a Michigan-based physician-artist, speaker and author creating vibrant mixed media works on healing, identity, resilience, and cultural memory
Message
This piece originated from an unexpected moment. While attempting to photograph a window display, my own reflection appeared instead, softened and partially obscured. I chose to work from that image.
The painting explores how perception is shaped through layers, glass, devices, and memory. The figure is present yet distant, absorbed in the act of looking while simultaneously being seen. Warm and cool spaces coexist, creating a quiet tension between interior and exterior experience.
Rather than capturing a clear image, the work holds the ambiguity of what reveals itself when we are not fully in control of what we see.
This work began with an unintended image, a reflection that appeared while I was trying to capture something else. I leaned into that ambiguity. The figure exists in a space that is both interior and external, warm and cool, still and in motion. The act of looking becomes layered. What is seen is filtered, mediated, and gently altered. The painting holds that quiet tension between being present and being observed.
- Subject Matter: Portrait, abstract,
- Collections: Figures
