Artist Seema Kohli's paintings take you through an imagined world. It's a world where fish have no fins, cows are masculine and Krishna effeminate.

Her birds and butterflies do not have much bearing with natural facets. Her figures are disproportionate, her Gandharvas (flying angels) have wings and trees grow on the sun.

So what is the reason for her paintings being so diametrically opposed to reality? "Reality is hypothetical and who knows what is real and what is a dream after all? I'm talking about time, space and positive energies being constantly recycled through my works, so maybe that is why they get into such an unreal realm," she says.

"As an artist, I don't have a language to express my thoughts so I use metaphors to covey them through art. For example, fishes without fins mean that some people get on with life without a support system; cows being masculine don't literally really mean that. It just suggests that cows provide so much in abundance that they are a pillar of strength; Krishna being effeminate means he possesses tenderness," she explains.

Her canvases are filled with an innumerable amount of details that look like a complex tapestry of a highly imaginative mind.

The eternal tree of life is invoked in almost all of the artist's paintings as a kind leitmotif that spreads its pattern of seamless branches and roots to represent clothing, skin or the backdrop of the whole visual plan. It is the foundation for contemplation on the purpose and deeds that delineate the pattern of our daily lives.

Some characters whether figures meditating or trees or clouds, are usually repeated. This could be mistaken for mindless repetition or doodling, but for Seema it is a visual chant, akin to repeating a mantra. Her art exhibition Philosophical Fantasies is on till March 20 at gallery Art and Soul, Worli.