A painting show by a Japanese artist in Auroville, Jyoti Naoki Eri, which gets under way at the universal township on Saturday, will present art through a grid of metaphysics.
The works reflect a multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary engagement with the creative process by an artist who is a painter, sculptor, photographer, ceramist, designer and garden designer, all rolled into one.
And, for someone with an academic grounding in Japanese traditional art, the show has been aptly titled ‘Anime’.
Jyoti has used this strong traditional background to break barriers in his art and explore multiple techniques and mediums in his artwork such as calligraphy, sculpture, water colours, ceramics and lacquer work.
The exhibition is the result of over four years of exploration and experimentation resulting in a riveting interplay between painting, sculpting, and calligraphy.
The works can be broadly classified as three series that grapple with metaphysical questions and paradoxes in different ways.
The ‘Vessel’ series grapples with the duality ‘soul/body’ and its relationship with the universe, the ‘Windows’ features inventive calligraphy, where visual abstraction embodies the reawakening of the world’s soul, leaving behind the previous state and birthing anew, and the ‘Lotus’ segment, while retaining heavy symbolism, leans more towards figurative representation.
“An artist works on positive emotions, and sometimes it’s just too much to bear. This new series responds to a need. I wanted an answer, and I got it”, he said.
The artist, who graduated from the Doda Municipal Art High School Sculpture Course, Kyoto, Japan, underwent an apprenticeship under the Japanese master sculptor Satoshi Yabuuchi, and also studied art in London under the guidance of art historian John White.
Since 2004, he has taken up residence in Auroville and runs an art ad design studio. His works have been presented at several shows, including the Family Art Exhibition, Wako-Ginza, Tokyo, Japan 2010, “Ek Sutra” at India International Centre, New Delhi, “Another Way of Tea” at Kala Kendra, Auroville, and the ‘Asian Calligraphy Exhibition’ NTNU, Taipei, Taiwan.
The show opens at the Vernissage at 4:30p.m. with a concert by Jatinder Singh Durhailay on Dilruba from London. He will offer his perspective on art on December 27 and a Japanese tea ceremony has been arranged on January 3.
The exhibition is on till January 4 at the Centre d’Art - Citadine, Auroville (Near Townhall), from 10:30am to noon and from 3:30 pm to 5pm (Sundays and holidays by appointment over WhatsApp on 9489887192), Auroville said.
