“Oriental Inspiration” SATSANG SERIES
Acrylic on handmade paper
70x104cm (unframed)
ABOUT THIS PAINTING:
I have been to India on three
occasions and stayed in an ashram for one year on one of those visits. It was during that year that I started the
Satsang Series. “Satsang” is a Sanskrit
word. Sanskrit is the ancient classical language
of India. Satsang is to do with the spiritual
search for Enlightenment and loosely means “meeting in Truth”. This painting is therefore a meditation and
is meant to convey that state to the viewer.
Abstract art is an ideal medium to express such an abstract concept. Meditation (for both Buddhist and Hindus) is
achieved by sitting quietly and observing one’s thoughts moving in and out of
consciousness without judgement – thus one is in Awareness in the Now.
Artistic techniques used in this
painting:
Why do I
consider this to be a “good” painting?
It has a spontaneous element to it which suggests that the painting was
created in the moment. This approach to painting
is not unlike the Zen use of calligraphy to express a similar practice. The fact that it looks spontaneous and maybe
has been done spontaneously does not take way for the “value” of the action. Sometimes things that look easy are oft times
made to look that way because the practitioner has done the task over and over
again. Take ballet dancing as a case in
point. I believe that only through art(s) can the truth of a non-shared experience be transmitted.
Red and Green
are complimentary colours. They also can
be considered opposites. The Yellow
represents the “nugget of gold” one finds when one observes one’s thoughts. They float in a sea of Green with splashes of
Red punctuating the tranquillity.
The
composition is balance which adds to the tranquil feeling it conveys. Its simplicity also contributes to the
essential meditative nature of the painting.
Do you think it achieves this?
Have I been successful in conveying an abstract concept to you, the
viewer?
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