Indian instrumental music playing in the background acts like a foil to the art work of Satish Gupta displayed at Zazen Studio. The artist’s solo after a gap of six years is titled ‘Transcending Eternity’.
The underlying theme is Shiva, the energy that absorbs, Vishnu, the emanating energy and Devi, who transfers the energy. The first segment depicts nine different forms of Shiva from the Tanjore temple, the source of Satish’s inspiration. The Rudra Shiva, a major sculpture in the show, is the interpretation of Shiva revealing himself to Brahma and Vishnu in one mythological episode. In the next section, there are nine devis in vibrant colours. “Instead of seven colours of the rainbow I’ve used nine because that’s totally arbitrary.”
The sculptures are in copper, Satish’s favourite material. “I like more organic and earthy materials instead of synthetic ones. Structurally, I use stainless steel, but it’s all hidden,” says the artist.
While Garuda, Rudra, Ganesha and the Lingams of Amarnath, Badrinath and Kedarnath have been rendered in sculptures, Vishnu has been explored through the medium of paintings.
“I was bothered by how people are fighting over religion. So I tried to find the warp and weft of the universe and that’s how the grid came about, which is running through all the works. The energy that is flowing through gives it life.”
The versatile artist having experimented with merging the second and the third dimension, the flat and the round, has come up with a new form called sculpture painting. “I am doing away with dualities because I see no difference between sculpture and painting, ultimately it is the creative act that counts,” explains the artist whose four meter high Surya sculpture in copper can be viewed at Indira Gandhi airport.
For the garuda, Satish studied the eagle and aerodynamics. “I wanted to make it look like it could fly.” A feather from crowned eagle from Africa that served as a model for the sculpted feathers, adorns the wall of the room. The last segment of the exhibition presents 360 works of Vishnu for the 360 degrees, being greatly inspired by the 1000 names of Vishnu. “The transition from the dark to the light is smooth without a break. But when you see from darkest to lightest, there is a vast difference and that was a challenge. This show is about transcending all barriers of eternity, space, and time and doing away with limitations”, he says adding that he has derived inspiration from the tradition of Chola Bronze.
(The exhibition presented by Gallery Art and Soul will be on till January 23rd at Zazen Studio, E 20, South City 1 Gurgaon. The show will then travel to Mumbai.)
