Poppy Charnalia is a Lexington, MA based artist. She exhibited her multi-dimensional art at the recent (May 2023) Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Exhibition is organized by MAMAG Modern Art Museum and Gallery GmbH curated by K. Heinz Playner.
Poppy’s art embellished the show alongside artists from countries like Germany, Spain, Norway, Latvia, China, Poland, Hungary, France and Japan. The art show successfully ran parallel to the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The Mayfair Life magazine in London covered the event next to Christie’s and The Dior publications. At the event, Poppy displayed her textured pieces inspired by her 12 year old son who is on the autism spectrum. His
sensory indulgence in textures has ignited her multifaceted relief work on canvas. Part of the art proceeds are committed to Autism Programs.
Her husband Samir Charnalia , daughter Preanshi Charnalia and son Sohum Charnalia were present at the art exhibition. Her family proudly wore art prints derived from her abstract work. In Poppy’s words “Art is living with complete awareness and expressing with complete honesty. My artwork here is about freedom of thought, of expression and breaking from boundaries that limit our inner existence.” At her interview at the Cannes Contemporary Art Biennial she described her pieces on display via this poem:
I want more water
More fire, hotter
More earth deeper, damp, decayed
I want more of that vacant space
Ohh ! It’s choked by ceilings n’ walls
That air in my window’s clutches
Banging her head against high ceiling halls
I want more of these released
To ‘compose’ what’s me
And what remains
When I am free…
Poppy grew up in India deeply delving into various forms of art like painting, music and poetry. Her mother an established artist in India taught her techniques in various mediums.
She is an IndiArt Ambassador for Ekal Vidyalaya, an organization that promotes education and well being for underprivileged children in India. She has done art shows locally and donated art for various causes like American Heart Association, Vision-Aid, Saheli and Pratham. She did a successful art auction fund raiser for Autism Speaks at DeCordova Contemporary Art Museum in Massachusetts in Sept 2018. At this event she launched her first Hindi/Urdu poetry book ‘Yeh Sach Anvarat’ or ‘This Relentless Truth’. She raises money for Autism programs through Art and the sale of her poetry book. She has existing and upcoming art exhibitions New York, Rome, Venice , London and Louvre (Paris).