Life experience as the main source of creative freedom

Inderjeet Grover is a renowned artist known for his imaginative and original use of colour and form. He is also known for drawing directly from personal experience, making art that is in essence deeply autobiographical.  
His latest exhibition Journey Never Ends is a Way, which opened recently in the Lokayata Art Gallery in Delhi, presents a fresh set of paintings recounting, in line and colour, events and scenarios that unfolded through the course of the artist’s day-to-day life.
“I am a simple human being who strongly believes in humanity,” Grover said in an interview to Guardian 20. “I feel that being a human being is a gift. If I am able to help others it would be the greatest gesture to show. My paintings show inner images of life that come from simple, complicated, living and non-living objects that drive me to paint something new which is inspired from the incidents of daily life.’’
Grover often draws motivation from inanimate objects that surround him. He said: “Every object has a story to convey. I feel each and every object is beautiful, precious and every moment it teaches you something. I also believe that everything which is present on earth is alluring. The difference is how you see it and how you define it.  I remember when I was a student I used to stare at big, huge hoardings of movies in my town. I used to deeply watch the shapes, lines, colours and compositions used in those and practiced it at home.”
Interestingly, all of Grover’s previous exhibitions have carried the same title that’s given to his latest show: Journey Never Ends is a Way. “My all exhibitions,” he said, “are titled the same because life is a journey which continues. It is a journey for passion which makes your life pleasant and calm. It is about something that you constantly search for. We are travelling every moment. Sometimes it is a virtual and hidden journey within.  So, this way, the journey never ends in our life.”
Talking about his recent exhibition, he said, “My paintings depict connections and separations which are part of life and it is very visible in my work.  I am inspired by the events one encounters on a daily basis. Everyone is living a challenging life to some extent. We are all lost in our own world. In order to concentrate on my work, I try to separate myself from daily chores which I think is something essential to painting. I also see life intermixed with various relationships, simple yet complicated. Longing and separation are the part of one’s journey.”
Grover strongly believes that meditation is an integral part of the creative process. “One can meditate through their work,” he said. “It is not only about the exercise one does but also something vey eternal and peaceful that you do through your work. I am also inspired from nature, beauty, thoughts, music and a particular show curated by my student Anubha Maharaj inspired me to put together this exhibition.”
How does one define art? To this, he replied: “It can be defined through thoughts. But one has to understand, feel and observe it. Art is subjective and its way of expression is different from all the other modes of expression. It can be emotional, destructive or just be extremely creative but it completely depends on an artist on how he elaborates it further. I see various lives through my paintings.”