Anil Vangad

“There are human beings, birds, animals, insects, and soon. There is movement all day and all night. Life is movement.”

-Jivya Some Mashe on ‘What Moves the Warli Soul?’

From a village in the North of Mumbai, Anil Vangad was brought up in a Warli community flanked by the Sahyadri Mountain range. At a young age, he dreamt of the swirling Tarpa figures, crawling insects, and the swaying corn in the field. Taught the tradition of Warli painting by his mother, Vangad uses traditional material where canvas cloth is primed with cow dung, and colors are prepared using rice paste mixed with neem which is then applied with a bamboo stick. Unlike his fellow Warli artists, he offers minimal compositions, a flat perspective, and incorporates modernity and technology, mostly as an indication of how life in his village is changing. With 17 years of experience, he has worked on vast mural projects. He has been part of group shows such as The Tribal Arts, Arushi Arts (2020), On Display Now, Arushi Arts (2020), Art to Invest In Uncertain Time: Part 1, Arushi Arts (2020), Of Aesthetics & The Vernacular: An Insight Into Warli Art, Arushi Arts (2020), Spirit Of India Chapter II, curated by Ina Puri, Harrington Street, Kolkata (2022), and has several solo exhibitions in Singapore, Hong Kong, the US, UK, France, South Korea, India, and many other countries. His work is held in several prestigious public and private collections as well as acquired by auction houses such as Roseberry’s London. He is currently working out of his studio located in the rural area to the North of Mumbai.