One half expects to meet a very elitist, serious foreigner but is totally taken aback by a
friendly, unpretentious, almost desi artist. She shatters this stereotype with
her unwavering gaze, firm handshake and ready smile. Accompanied by her sister,
Sterre holds fort, explaining the nuances of her paintings to an interested
audience who huddle around her. “I love colours!” she declares, contrary to
usual European taste. She adds, “I have only done two paintings in my life that
were subdued; one that I did on widows and the other on Cambodia.” She is
obviously smitten by Goa, a place she began visiting since the 1980s – a time
when Goa was perhaps several shades greener, fringed with a bohemian vibe and
impassioned emotion.
“There is something about Goa that sheds
people’s inhibitions. I can hardly recognise the same people I meet here from
Delhi. Somehow, the fakeness disappears,” she chuckles. Her first art
exhibition in Goa is on her favourite muse. Familiar scenes from the beach come
to life with her use of golden acrylic paints that lend a real life quality to
the elements in her paintings; a windy day at the beach, friends lolling
around, colourful shacks to the omnipresent cows and stray dogs. Sterre works
with acrylic, oil paint, resin, watercolours and her installations are in
fibreglass. “I also like to improvise and use shells, sand or glass in my
collage,” she adds. Two of her paintings, Vishnu and Stella Maris, represent
the Hindu and Christian influences in Goa through vivid detailing of Vishnu
resting on Kalswarup Seshnag with a Balinese art influence evident in this art
piece.
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Sterre knew she wanted to be an artist at
the age of seven, when she joined the art school Ecole Martenau de Paris, and
later, as a teenager, she pursued courses in oil painting, sculpture/pottery
and Chinese art at the Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC. Little did she
know of the surprises that life held in store, when at 19, she met Captain
Satish Sharma, a pilot and veteran politician whom she married in a flash and
moved to Delhi, living with an extended, all vegetarian joint family. “It was
difficult, of course, but the Dutch are hardy, stubborn folks.” Ask her how she
took to a life in politics, she candidly says, “I hate everything about politics
and continue to keep away from it.”
These paintings also radiate the joy that the artist experienced
while celebrating her husband’s remission from Cancer and his recuperation over
an extended stay in Goa. She reveals, “Battling cancer has been an arduous
journey. The treatment is so painful and my advice to anyone would be to stop
smoking or eating tobacco before it’s too late.” She has had to adapt to the
many challenges thrown at her but her strength and fortitude seems to have held
her in good stead. She’s also fluent in Hindi, which she demonstrates while
explaining her work to someone at the gallery. Seeing our surprise, she
chortles, “In trying to understand what my mother-in-law was saying about me, I
learnt Hindi and Punjabi!”
Sterre’s positivity and fortitude is evident in every aspect of
her persona that reflects also in her art. In an interesting revelation she
says, “I was so fortunate to learn Transcendental Meditation from Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi when I was 23.” She elaborates, “At that time, my husband was one
of the two who had a licence to fly a Dakota aircraft that was used for the
Maharishi. That’s how I serendipitously met him. Over the years, it has helped
me blank out all negativity. I can just close my eyes and drift into a meditative
space.”
Sterre has used her abilities to fuel many dreams. She along
with her sister, Mei Zegger, also started the Kalakar Trust that works for the
benefits of performing artists (education and medical care) in Katputli Colony
in Delhi. From launching her own clothing line for kids with a friend, at a
time when none existed and then selling it off to greening a barren hillside in
Mussoorie by planting more than 10,000 trees to growing her own vegetables, she
has her feet firmly on terra firma.
Constantly experimenting with many mediums, Sterre is greatly
influenced by kitsch and pop art. Commenting on her own painting collage titled
‘Shital’s Shop’, which details an array of cheap, colourful sunglasses on sale,
she says, “There is a certain innocence in kitsch. It’s straight from the
heart.”
Happy to play the role of grandmother to the hilt, Sterre is
most content baking and painting with her grandchildren. Intending to divide
her time between Delhi and Goa, Sterre regards Goa as her constant muse. No wonder
then that even if Goa has changed considerably, she still sees it just as
colourful through her kaleidoscopic lens.
Sun-Sand
and The Sea now showing at The Cube Gallery, Moira till December 10, 2019
