Dr Mehta is noted nationally and internationally for his immense contribution in preserving and celebrating the rich heritage of Rajasthan. As an artist, he had his first successful solo exhibition in 1967, AIFACS, New Delhi. With his artist wife Mrs. Meena Mehta, he had 13 solo and joint exhibitions in India and abroad. His art works got extensively featured and reviewed both by the print and electronic media. He participated in state, zonal and national level art exhibitions, as well as in National Artists Camps. He was invited by the State University of New York in 1977 for a successful lecture demonstration and exhibition programme. For more than four decades through his contribution in art, paintings, batiks, murals, architectural designs and cultural activism, he has brought contemporary relevance to the indigenous art as well as has empowered the local artisans, thereby bridging the gap between art, architectural design and popular culture- As an ever exploring painter, he had extensively travelled across the villages of Rajasthan for sketching and had rendered the same into popular stylized pictorial compositions. The strength of his paintings lies in the vividness of expression which is a result of conceptual clarity. This quality has made him enormously popular with the beholders. He has provided a broader base to the art of modern India by enriching it with ethnic substances. In his paintings, he has invented newer traditions, by juxtaposing contemporary art, with popular culture and folk art with urban trends. He has been very close to his own culture, and has often taken inspiration from tribal and folk art. As “a painter of peasant life”, he has painted many village activities in oil, tempera and batik. The painting “returning from the fair” was published by The Hindustan Times, as a Diwali card. His underlying quest has been based on three principles –
• to capture the essence of simplicity which is embodied in the life of the folk people.
– to make art accessible to a wider section of people. and
– to give Indian art its own identity.
Dr. Mehta’s oeuvre is intense yet remains so simple and veiled. It is a reflection of what he has imbibed from the heritage. By promoting and preserving indigenous form of art, he has tried to preserve our pristine glorious identity.
Batik artist – His batik art got national and international acclaim. A group of travelers, while paying a visit to Rambagh palace hotel, Rajasthan got so fascinated with his batik art, that they invited him in the United States of America to hold an exhibition so as to make the art form popular there. His batik art works got sold like hot cakes in the United States of America. In his batik creations, he portrayed the village life of Rajasthan. Puppeteers, women, animal riders, rustic folk, marriages, fairs etc. with organic batik cracks in the background, reflects a strong connection with the soil of Rajasthan. In one of his batik creationa, titled “returning from the fair”, he has portrayed the journey of women folk returning from the village fair. Charles Fabri, an eminent British art critic has called this painting as “post Yamini Roy” style of art. There is a kind of spiritual abstraction which resonates in his art, but which at the same time, remains quite uniquely undefined and unexplained even after elaborate interpretations. The simplicity of his art form carries a complex meaning underneath