The artist, whose works are being showcased as a part of a show at the reputed Agora Gallery in New York City, has displayed her most recent Ganesh series and portrait series in gold leaf and acrylic on canvas. Laila tells CS about the response she’s received and why she doesn’t like to title her works:

A great response
Around 200 people attended the opening. Agora Fine Art gallery is in Chelsea which is considered the most important art district in the world. The artists in the show were from Germany, Israel, San Diego, Spain, Poland, Canada, Crete, Slovakia. I’ve received a strong response to my work with immense curiosity around my Ganesh series which I have approached in an abstract way and interest in the contemporary way I used gold leaf.

Freeze a moment
I do not title my works as I feel art is a very personal process and deserves a personal and subjective response. Titles impose direction, constriction and limitations to the viewer; the picture itself can speak a thousand words so why does one need titles. If you are a creater, you work for yourself, but when you are finished, you share it with people and hopefully they like it. For me, painting a nude is no different from painting a flower; it freezes a unique moment in time. The before and after, where and when is up to the viewer.

Ganesh the great
I am awed by the power of Ganesh’s image and wanted to represent this deity through my art. In India, the Hindu deity Ganesh is ubiquitous. He is the provider of prosperity, the remover of obstacles, the guaranteer of boons and success, and the lord of beginnings. Divinity is abstract, hence I’ve approached Ganesh in my work in an abstract way.u00a0