Thinking silently through colours

Influenced by Indian and Western philosophy, K Subramaniam brings us his 6th solo exhibition of paintings titled Eternal Quest. The exhibition was inaugurated by Padmashri Shovana Narayan on 29 March. The self-taught artist whose work arise from an innate personal vision reveals the creative act inspired by Sufism and Zen. The works try to engage the viewer through a wider vision of awareness, including mystical themes and experiences.  

One of the painting Tum Ek Gorakh Dhandha Ho (you are a puzzle) is a rendition in colour of the beautiful sufi poetry by the same name, immortalised by the qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The search for the ultimate is a puzzle, a maze in which one gets lost and only the one who loses himself, finds his self.  This is also the idea behind the other paintings Celebrating the Unknown and Sufi’s Bliss. While Purush-Prakriti depicts the relationship between matter and consciousness, the painting That’s All We Know portrays the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. We experience the world only through the spectacle of time and space, as defined by our senses. 

What the world actually is, we cannot know unless we take a walk inward between our eyes.  Yoga is all about the ability to live in the present, between the outgoing and incoming breath, free from the shackles of past and future tense.  This is the essence of the Kundalini or Chakra paintings.

The mural Crusade Against Corruption is dedicated to the golden jubilee year of the Central Vigilance Commission.The three arms of the fighter represent the preventive, punitive and participative approach to combating corruption.