Tuesday, June 9, 2015

And it begins!!!

There is no beginning or end, that is what Krishna teaches us. And in our tiny lives we probably will take a long time to understand this perspective, especially with regards to Art.
After a whirlwind phase of intense learning and travel last year, this year so far has been a gentle hum. Though I needed the break, I initially did curse the occasional boredom, but now as I stand on the threshold of another upcoming intense phase, I am quite thankful for the quietude. It has helped me understand the importance of stillness - external stillness to understand and appreciate our internal journeys, and internal stillness to make space for external energy. Because that is where we often trip - our external actions usually do not echo our internal atmosphere, and there is so much of mending and blending as a thought goes on to become a work.
Where exactly does 'ART' begin ?
Is art a hyperbole ? Or is it simplification? Who knows?
What this internal intimate time has made me understand is how beautiful change is, especially as an artist. Of course the intensity and the excitement is one of the innate reasons I am here, but still, everything that has been until now feels just like a warm up. All the classes, all the performances, all the paintings, and all the scribbling of words - now feel nascent. I do recognize their value in the context of the time they were created, but it feels like a newness has been unearthed, another blank slate challenging me to show how deep I can dig or how hard I can seek. And it is definitely because of a growing awareness.
With a gradual increase in the audience of whatever I create as 'Art', there has been a subconsciousness increase in my sense of responsibility. Though they are still the fundamental questions of 'why am I making Art? Am I representing what I see/feel, challenging what I see/feel, or critiquing what I see/feel?' that I find myself dealing with, what has expanded is the awareness that they probably won't have straightforward answers for a very long time, and as an artist that is actually a blessing.
Older ambitions seem slightly vulgar, distresses have changed into disgust, affections have morphed into sympathy, and definitions for success and dreams have evolved and filtered, along with an ability to accept them as they are. The creative impulse has become the foremost concern rather than just technical goals - there is no need to find a 'balance' between different forms as the impulse will take great care of it. In fact, all these fancy words like 'balance' and blah blah are quite malleable in Art; this field needs its own bloody dictionary.
It has been a great warm up though, and I look back with gratefulness, but it is super exciting to know that my internal ideas have finally found an audible conversation with my external actions. And hoping I am capable of giving the honesty and integrity they have begun to (relentlessly) demand as some long held visions have begun to unfurl.





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