A massive structure with a calm face and hands joint in prayer and sprouting wings beckons me as I enter the gallery where Delhi-based artist Satish Gupta’s works are on display. Moulded in copper, the sculpture exudes peace and serenity, much like most of the other artworks around the gallery. Gupta is a man entrenched in the Zen philosophy of life and his works are a reflection of his beliefs.
Gupta stumbled across Zen teachings in his 20s when he was in France on a scholarship in 1970. Broke and dismal, he was struggling to make ends meet when he chanced upon a second-hand bookstore opposite the historical Notre Dame de Paris. “I found an old, tattered book on the teachings of Zen, and it had me hooked,” recounts Gupta. To his young mind, while it answered his questions of existence and purpose, it brought up a million others. “Over the years, I’ve realised that if you pose the right question, that itself contains the answer.”
Back in Mumbai after a gap of four years with Silent Eternity , Gupta says that it took him this much time to put together the show. While inspiration for the project struck over eight years ago, he was able to put pen to paper only much later. Silent Eternity consists of paintings with accompanying haikus , standalone paintings and a collection of four sculptures, all of which are bound by the uniform thread of silence and its beauty.
The sculpture on display in the first section, ‘Surrender’, is a massive Garuda with its hands joint in prayer. The thought behind the sculpture came to Gupta when he came across the magnaminity of the eagle god, who gave up immortality for the larger good. Sculpted with a taut torso and muscular arms, the image juxtaposes the serenity on the face with the strength Garuda innately possesses.
“It takes so much strength to resist moksha (immortality) when it is right in front of you; it is a state of surrender,” says Gupta, fascinated by Garuda’s ability to have abstained from indulging in the chance to stay eternal. The sculpture also has enormous wings jutting out from the forearms. The wings are shaped like the feathers of the crown eagle, which Gupta had observed on safari through South Africa. Inspired by the wingspan of the crown eagle, the sculpture too, has a wingspan of 12 feet.
The second section of the exhibit contains the sculpture ‘Zen Forest’. Built around the notion of oneness with God, the sculpture is that of tall, dark trees, with a lone light shining on the monk seated amidst the dense forest. “The idea is that you are never alone; God is always with you. If you are aware, he is in the trees, the skies, the pebbles.”
In the third section is the exhibit ‘ Shunya ’, which translates into void or emptiness. But it is the exact opposite that Gupta hopes to convey through the structure. “Within the void, there exists the universe. And you are at the centre of that universe. It is the fullness, within emptiness.” Suspended from a metal rope, a Buddha cut out from a metal sheet of tiny Buddhas rotates in tandem with three outer rings that merge together to create a meditative effect. The structure embodies the idea that opposites, whether positive and negative or micro and macro, are one and the same.
The last section of the show hosts the exhibit ‘Silent Eternity’, which is the Buddha seated amidst a blooming lotus pond. With a lotus in his hand, the Buddha manifests the truth of every passing moment through the saying, “All that could be said has been said; what cannot be said, I say through silence,” says Gupta. The line sums up the artist’s entire philosophy, which focuses on experiencing life rather than explaining it at every turn.
The writer is an intern with The Hindu
Silent Eternity is on at the Jehangir Art Gallery from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m till December 5.
