- This event has passed.
…of meditative gestures
October 29, 2021 - November 30, 2021
An online exhibition
by SHAHANSHAH MITTAL
“My recent body of work is an ongoing exploration of the works and lives of saints. I am particularly interested in the writing of Swami Vivekanand, couplets of Kabir, and poems of Bulleshah. Unintentionally, all of this becomes a part of my work. Text and references to script in my work emerge from what I read and listen to. The intent is not to make it legible, but an uninterrupted flow of my emotion and environment. And other recognizable motifs, like a flower, remind me of nature, as though saying “I am ready to blossom.” Each work in this series is a visual diary of my exploration. My ideas evolve as I apply my sense of order and play to the image and material at hand. I may start with an idea in mind, but somewhere as I go along, intention and chance take over, giving it a new direction. I am never quite sure how a painting will look until it is finished.”
– Shahanshah Mittal
When I look back at my past, the years that I spent alone in Delhi, there was nothing on my mind then, except to paint. My teacher and professional guide suggested that I spend time working with the medium to discover the secrets and hidden meaning of the painting. In the process, I realized that my daily chores, my mundane surroundings, began to reflect in my art. The texture of concrete walls, random patterns on the road outside my house, and even the rhythm of the music I would put on in my studio… I painted it all. I do not paint with a preconceived plan or thought. This method is liberating and I thoroughly enjoy the freedom and allow things to flow in a natural way.
Music, nature, and spirituality draw my attention. I recreate a microcosm world that is layered with my vision, and the core reason for my art to be abstract. I intend to communicate a feeling rather than a precise meaning. My work attempts to create an environment that I find within myself; they represent an internal world that I am attempting to externalize and share. Most of my paintings are minimal in approach. I see them as balanced imagery, yet full of rhythm and asymmetry. Maestro and music exponent Hariprashad Chaurasia said “… my instrument is simply a piece of bamboo. The sound is straight from nature and it connects me to nature.” Similarly, I like to work on paper, a medium with which I feel completely liberated. I want to understand the music of nature more deeply with the help of my art.
