Satish Gupta’s exhibition displays his zen spirit
As veteran artist Satish Gupta and Odissi dancer Ramli Ibrahim brought to life the former’s sculpture The Cosmic Wave through dance movements, a Delhi audience opened up to the mystic Zen spirit of a multimedia art show—on view from 19 December—that depicts the artist’s meditative tryst with the tumultuous sea one evening.
Recalling the day-out when he was sketching along the Normandy coast in France, where French impressionist Claude Monet is said to have painted, Gupta said he noticed the sea becoming very rough and stormy.
“I was deeply involved in my drawing when I noticed my friend sitting crosslegged on the beach and facing the furious waves. This was a very Zen moment—the contrast between the stormy sea and his calm, silent presence in the face of nature’s onslaught struck me deeply and inspired some works,” the 1947-born artist said.
The little tale explains the show’s title Roaring Sea, Still Mind, which features 13 sculptures, 10 collages, 15 large paintings and about 125 drawings and calligraphic works with haikus (a traditional form of Japanese poetry) covering two galleries at the India Habitat Centre (IHC) here.
A journey through varied landscapes, minds and thought processes, the exhibition depicts the stormy sea and the roaring waves as visual metaphors for a larger phenomenon.
“They are metaphors for the chaotic state of our world today where we are governed by insensitive people who are drunk with power and indifferent to the rapidly deteriorating environment.
“Instead of fretting and shifting blame, each of us has to think deeply with a calm mind and realize that we are all responsible for this state and find ways to make this world a better place,” Gupta, who is known for artworks celebrating Zen, explained.
The artist, who expresses not just through painting and sculpture, but also calligraphy and haikus, has received formal training from Delhi’s College of Art and Paris’s Ecole des Beaux Arts.
“Calligraphy to me is the ultimate form of creativity. There is no room for hesitation, the work is created in a spontaneous gesture and is complete as soon as the brush touches the paper.
“Haikus are observations of a deeper reality which a common person does not even notice in the humdrum of daily life. Expressed in just three lines and in the traditional format only seventeen syllables, they are more about what is unsaid rather than what is said,” he said.
Each exhibited artwork was depicted through Odissi dance by Ibrahim at the inauguration on Saturday evening. The event also saw the launch of the book Zen Whispers by the artist and Claire Thuaudet, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of France.
The solo show opened for public viewing on Sunday, and will remain on view till 3 February.
IANS
“Haikus are observations of a deeper reality which a common person does not even notice in the humdrum of daily life. Expressed in just three lines and in the traditional format only seventeen syllables, they are more about what is unsaid rather than what is said.”