Vasu Tolia in the Press

The World United, the cover art for this special supplement issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, was among those finalists. Vasundhara Tolia, who created this image, took a somewhat different approach from other artists.

From a stylistic perspective, Vasu is a contemporary artist who draws on reality but abstracts it. Her language veers toward semi-abstract forms, achieved by blurring some of the details and creating art that is subject to the viewer’s sensations. Her representations of nature are vibrant and impressionistic, preferring to evoke rather than represent subjects in a literal way.

Having started with traditional objective art, I am now drawn toward abstract imagination. Acrylic paints and paper collages are my forte. I layer with paint, scrape it, add lines with charcoal, oil pastels, and ink-pens and let my imagination flow. Then the strokes, lines, and vibrant colors fill in the blanks.

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vasu Tolia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

If I reflect on my journey, transitioning from an academic physician and researcher to an artist in retirement, it is not my inclination to vocalize personal accomplishments. Because I have been raised with modest, reserved cultural values, extolling my own story publicly does not come naturally.