Indigo Blue Art presents Cosmic Confluences, an exhibition featuring Tantric-inspired works by two Indian diaspora master artists Sohan Qadri and Akkitham Narayanan.
Imbued with western influences but rooted in Indian tradition, both collections are deeply spiritual and display notions of Tantric teachings through the use of symbols, colours, lines and shapes. These works are well-known for their unique blends of Indian and Western – Tantric imagery with modernist minimalism in Qadri’s works, and Tantric and Indian elements with geometric patterns in Akkitham’s works. A balanced pairing of two different collections, this two- man show envelops the viewer in a cosmic confluence of vibrancy, subtlety, rhythm and silence, rewarding the audience with an aesthetically peaceful and undemanding experience.
Sohan Qadri was a former Buddhist monk, a noted poet, a Tantric Guru and an internationally acclaimed artist. Deeply inspired by Tantric Vajrayana Buddhism, his paintings are mystical and sensual. His works can be seen as yantras - vehicles for deep meditation – or symbolic representations of Kundalini, a form of feminine energy uncoiling upwards from the base of the spine, derived from the philosophy of Tantra and Yoga.
Qadri would begin painting with an empty mind – a feat achieved through deep meditation – and saturate thick artisanal papers with water, to prime them for absorption. He would use vegetable dyes which he had concocted himself to fill meticulously serrated papers with rich and luminous monochromes. The dot, or bindu, a recurring theme in his works made by carefully puncturing the canvas, as well as rhythmic lines, accomplished through incisions and serrations, create areas of concentrated colour.
Akkitham Narayanan is a Paris-based artist whose works are a fusion of Indian Tantric Art and European Geometric Abstraction. His abstract works engulf the audience in an enigmatic and visual presence. The artist, who was born into a traditional Brahmin family that often conducted Vedic teachings, combines religious elements of air, fire, water and the ether in his works.
Unique to his works are the blackish tones that are often associated with ancient Indian wall paintings and architecture. A repetitive mixture of triangles and rectangles revolve musically on his canvases and colours reminiscent of Indian murals fill each space. Akkitham blends the colours and creates the feeling of light, by applying a thin coat of oil paint on the canvas and then erasing it. He uses a knife to carve out archaic lines and lyrical calligraphic markings onto his works.
-Indigo Blue Art
Image: © Sohan Qadri
Courtesy of the artist and Indigo Blue Art
