Bystander

We write for various reasons, for pleasure, to give vent to our creative outbursts, to be heard, to be seen and also sometimes to make sense of it all. The last is my case, as life, as I know it, (and the way it constantly reveals itself to me), can be very nonsensical.

We were returning from a movie, late last night and no, this is not a movie review. This is a review of life in general. We were driving home, my husband and I. We were at a traffic light away when we could see ahead at the next light a few cars were stopped and what looked like a person on the road. We went past gingerly and saw a fast food delivery scooter toppled over in between the left lane and on the curb a few people surrounding a little boy sitting there. By the time my husband stopped the car with his hazard on, I was already running towards the scene. Upon reaching there and seeing that some first aid was being given, I was told ambulance had been called. Then the person dealing with the boy asked me, “Are you the mother?”  This is when the horror of the situation dawned on me. The boy was wailing with fright, “I don’t want to die!” Closer inspection revealed several cuts all over his hands legs and a deep one at his temple. I spoke to him gently as he was wailing for his Mom. I asked him who he was with - he said his brother. I turned around and saw a boy of 6/7 standing there really stunned and dazed with all that was happening. The injured boy was his younger brother.

These boys were returning from what is their parent’s food stall which is about ten minutes away from the scene. They had crossed the pedestrian bridge over the highway leading to the last pedestrian crossing prior to reaching home. While the older boy waited, the younger one darted across although the traffic signal had turned green for the cars. A scooter who was faster than the car beside it collided with the boy. The two young ladies who were in the car were witness to the entire incident.

Both the girls and I tried calling the parents, upon getting the number from the older boy, but their phone could not be reached. It was one of those pre paid card numbers. I asked the older brother where the shop was and he was going with the young lady to fetch his mother. On seeing his brother leaving, his younger brother started getting hysterical and would not let him out of sight. The medic was still working on his cuts and whenever the antiseptic wash burnt him, the he would wail louder and even hit the man. Unable to touch him, as we didn’t know of any internal injuries my best bet was to keep him talking which I did. He seemed to calm down. The cute boy then asked the medic, “Uncle are u a doctor?” to which the medic answered, “I wish boy, if I was, I wouldn’t be driving this car”. Amidst all that, I could not help thinking, we Singaporeans, really know how to make light of our situations. My husband spoke to the older boy and went off in the direction of the shop to look for the parents. Meanwhile there was another younger lad with an elderly man and I asked them if they knew the boy and they said they just saw the accident from the window and called the ambulance. The motor cyclist was also on the scene. He kept telling the girl his side of the story.

The ambulance arrived and the boy was checked and put on the stretcher and as the ambulance was parked at the inner side of the HDB block. They had to carry him there. The boy started wailing at the thought of going alone.....I asked them to wait, as parents had been sent for. Seeing his younger brother all bandaged and strapped to be taken inside the ambulance, it was now the elder brother who started crying. We hugged him and consoled him. It took another few long minutes before my husband came back with a distraught mother who saw the scene while she was coming down the pedestrian bridge and totally freaked out. Any mother would. I tried calming her and brought her to the ambulance and tried explaining to her but she went in to a complete fit. She could not speak English and a gentleman who was just passing by spoke her language and he became the translator. We then communicated that they were mainly bruises and that the head was bandaged because it’s a cut nothing serious and that they were going to take him to do x-rays. We got her to sit and relax. She insisted in wanting to travel with both boys in the ambulance and by then the police had arrived at the scene. One went off to question the motorcyclist and the other the boys waiting inside the ambulance. Of course we were asked if we were involved parties.

We went back to the scene and saw that the rider now was being attended to by the medic and the girls were giving their account, as was the rider. Our role of bringing the boys parents was done. My husband said the father was closing shop and coming soon. The professionals were there doing their job. I thanked the medic who just happened to be there on the scene like a god sent angel. He just did his job and was picking up his swabs and doing his packing up by then. Shook his hands and thanked him as he was the true hero. He then told me he has seen so many of these and not all turned out well like this one. We came home knowing we could not do much there anymore. I could not sleep and my mind was racing with various thoughts.

We came back to our sheltered life and shut the curtains to the reality, but could we really keep it away. A couple, to make ends meet, runs a food stall.  There is no one to take care of their two boys while they are away at work. These boys come home on their, own and go to sleep night after night. It takes an incident like this, for probably some people in the neighbourhood to even recognise them and know of their existence. The mother came running as that is all she could do while the father had to stay back and close shop and tidy it lest he lose that certification to run the “clean” stall. They are just doing their best to make life better for their two boys.

The nice thing to note was that all those who could help, stopped to help and there were many of us trying to do our bit, till the actual people in charge came. I will go back to the stall to find out how the boy is doing. I learnt that on the road there are so many things to look out for. I promised to be a much more cautious driver as did my husband. We also decided to have a talk with the kids once again about road safety.

However there is another side to this story. That, of the driver, who was feeling so bad, that he hurt a child. He also was trying to meet his delivery clock time. This was his night job and he looked like he needed the job. Apart from being a story about an accident scene I think this is more a story about our social scene. The lives we don’t normally see or interact with. The glossy effect of our marzipan existence where we are all strung on how perfect our lives are, they way it is. There are other people who are struggling to make it perfect for us. Be it the medic who stops to help, or the ambulance medics and the father who runs a stall of food, or the delivery man who brings home the fast food, while we watch cable in our air conditioned living rooms. Someone was upset last night and that was the person who was calling the hotline for the fast food chain, to find out when their burgers would arrive. Those burgers were late for their destination.

Iconic Ganesha: an Exploration

Journeys begin unannounced and so did mine with Ganesha as my vehicle of expression. Prior to 2001 I did smaller work and mostly etchings. Was raised with Bapi always teaching us even without aware that we were constantly learning from him whether he was painting for leisure or drawing up a plan for a forth coming, set to be put up. Our home was full of art and its happenings sometimes through practical sessions and a lot more through discussions. In 1991 that came to end after he passed on. There was an urgent need to connect to him although he was gone. I remember pulling down his books and doing a lot of still life paintings at this time. In 1996 I got married and moved to Singapore. I was told to rest for a year before I started on work of any sort. I did not mind it and with a non-stop education for 23 years of my life it felt like a well deserved break. My sweet husband, one day while returning from work got me the most humble form of art supplies. I did not have the heart to tell him due to Bapi’s supplies, I had never used such cheap art material even for my school work. He gradually realised that. In 2001 I was in Oregon, U.S. and suddenly found myself with endless material which he now bought for me and loads of time too. I started doing canvas after canvas.

“Why Ganesha?” you may ask. Simply because, I was enthused enough, to do Ganesha’s. I can’t even remember why. When I came back to Singapore I started selling a lot of Ganesha’s and loads of them commissions for various people. It seemed to have a favour with most Indians. I started looking at various paintings of Hussain’s and started using his Ganesha’s as inspiration. Gajanan Dandekar, with whom I did do a workshop when I went to Mumbai, is also a follower of Hussains’ style. While I explored the feminine form and steadfastly developed my own style I continued my study of Lambodara.

In Indian modern art one finds that since the mid 1900’s lot of artists would have indulged at least once in their career on this God. Is it because it’s so hugely woven in our psyches through various myths and stories that revolve around this cute child like figure. Does he seem more approachable because of his divine innocence? I will just throw light on some of these through my exploration. The sacred texts give a variety of stories narrating the sequence of Ganesha's birth. The most popular being the one mentioning that Ganesha was created by Goddess Parvati as a guardian to her privacy. We all know how she created him from the sandalwood paste she rubbed of her body. She called him her son and asked him to guard her door and soon enough Shiva came and was obstructed entry into his own abode by this boy who claimed to be Uma’s son. We know how the Lord and his rage resulted in the boy having an elephant head. To bestow respect on her son who now had an elephant head Shiva named him “Ganesha”, the word Ganesha is made up of gana (followers of Shiva) and isha (lord), thus Shiva appointed him the lord of his ganas.

One finds a lot of symbolism attached to each physical attribute of this Deity. According to the strict rules of Hindu iconography, Ganesha figures with only two hands are a taboo. Hence, Ganesha figures are most commonly seen with four hands which signify their divinity. Some figures may be seen with six, some with eight, some with ten, some with twelve and some with fourteen hands, each hand carrying a symbol which differs from the symbols in other hands, there being about fifty seven symbols in all, according to the findings of research scholars. The principal scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.

An intriguing aspect of Ganesha's iconography is his broken tusk, leading to the appellation Ekdanta, Ek meaning one and danta meaning teeth. It carries an interesting legend behind it: When Parashurama one of Shiva's favorite disciples, came to visit him, he found Ganesha guarding Shiva's inner apartments. His father being asleep, Ganesha opposed Parshurama's entry. Parashurama nevertheless tried to urge his way, and the parties came to blows. Ganesha had at first the advantage, seizing Parashurama in his trunk, and giving him a twirl that left him sick and senseless; on recovering, Parashurama threw his axe at Ganesha, who recognizing it as his father's weapon (Shiva having given it to Parashurama) received it with all humility upon one of his tusks, which it immediately severed, and hence Ganesha has but one tusk.

A different legend narrates that Ganesha was asked to scribe down the epic of Mahabharata, dictated to him by its author, sage Vyasa. Taking into note the enormity and significance of the task, Ganesha realized the inadequacy of any ordinary 'pen' to undertake the task. He thus broke one of his own tusks and made a pen out of it. The lesson offered here is that no sacrifice is big enough in the pursuit of knowledge.

There seems to be a pattern in the creation of this Lord and the iconography relating to him. Note the contradictions in his very being. He is The Lord of ganas but has a body not all Human. He is the God of knowledge and is even invoked for any great work of art and yet when it comes to warfare he seems to be victorious there too. In each of his eight incarnations he was fighting a major demon be it a demon of anger, jealousy or greed. You would not normally associate the heroism of warfare to a childlike, food happy diety. Yet his very being is out of duality. He is born out of Shiva and Shakti. He is born out of the basis of male and female symbols of Hindisum. Yet at a deeper meaning what is Shiva and Shakti. Why are they seen in union for the protection of the universe. They are just the principles addressing the various tatva’s in the human being. To quote, Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik  “When the mind behaves like Shiva, the hermit, and shuns all things worldly; the world around behaves like Kali and Gauri, demanding attention. When the mind behaves like Vishnu, the householder; the world around becomes like Lakshmi, Sita and Radha and Rukmini and Satyabhama, a source of joy as well as a responsibility to bear. Unfortunately, most of the time, the mind behaves like Brahma – seeking control and dominion over the world around. So the Goddess turns into Shatarupa, the nymph, who cannot be captured. Brahma tries to catch her but fails. When he stops and sits and pays attention carefully, Shatarupa transforms into Saraswati, goddess of wisdom, and enables his transformation into Shiva or Vishnu.”

Yet coming back to iconography within Ganesha one finds a polarity even in his names. The names Vighnesha and Vighneshvara  refers to his primary function in Hindu theology as the master of obstacles (vighna), and he is the remover as well.

His Vahana although primarily has been the mouse in some avataar’s like Vikata, and the Vighnaraja he uses a peacock and a snake respectively. The mouse  becomes the embodiment of the intellect. It is able to slip unobserved or without our knowledge into places which we would have not thought it possible to penetrate. In doing this it is hardly concerned whether it is seeking virtue or vice. The mouse thus represents our wandering, wayward mind, lured to undesirable or corrupting grounds. By showing the mouse paying subservience to Lord Ganesha it is implied that the intellect has been tamed through Ganesha's power of discrimination. At a recent temple visit I overheard a Chinese guide explain to the tourists that the mouse was also a symbol of the “ego”. The Lord Ganesha, the huge elephant tusked God rides on a small mouse. This is to signify how he keeps his foot over the ego and has complete control over it. For me this seemed a logical explanation given the importance associated with this first child of Shiva and Shakti.

According to Kundalini yoga, Ganesha resides in the first chakra, called Muladhara (mūlādhāra). Mula means "original, main"; adhara means "base, foundation". The muladhara chakra is the principle on which the manifestation or outward expansion of primordial Divine Force rests. This association is also attested to in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Ganesha holds, supports and guides all other chakras, thereby "governing the forces that propel the wheel of life". Personally I have extended the travelling of the consciousness from the muladhara to the top chakra, Sahasrara, in the form of a conch shell headed Lord with the AUM as the ear to the universal happenings.

Any exploration of Lord Ganesha cannot be concluded without a mention of the mystical syllable AUM. The sacred AUM is the most powerful Universal symbol of the divine presence in Hindu thought. It is said to be the first cosmic sound with which creation came into being. Artists have often taken liberty with this manifestation to give it their own touch of obeisance.  I have done it before and I am about to do it again in my forth coming exhibition.

 Ganesha is thus the ONLY god to be associated in a "physical" sense with the primordial sacred sound AUM, a telling reminder of his supreme position in the Hindu pantheon. The number “3” has also symbolically represents “AUM”. The symbol of Aum consists of three curves standing for the three states of consciousness. The sound Aum also has three sounds together. The Mandukya Upanishad explains this in great detail. Hence “Omkara”, the one whose body denotes the shape of AUM is the embodiment of the supreme consciousness.

Recently I was curated for “The Global Icon: Ganesha in Fine Art” by Vidhya Gnana Couresan, for the exhibition. I was returning to this deity after a good few years of interval. I started rethinking my older work and I have hence come up with a series of four paintings of which three are bound within heavy symbolism. Over here you will find the Cubic Vinayaka, where I have taken the liberties to interpret the Lord and Cubism to my personal understanding. I have used a lot of Picasso’s palette   for expression as well. Yet my figure remains inspired by Hussain once again. The moon I choose to give a twist with the yin yang, bringing the female and male principle, within the canvas as to me Ganesha is the result of this unison.  

 

Resources:

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/numbers.asp

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/ganesha/

http://www.lordganesha.co.za/ReligiousContent/Iconography.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha

Art Walk at the Wessex Village

Over the Weekend the artists at the Wessex village 14 of them had thrown open their doors to let us have a slice of their creative lives. For many this is their studio space and their living space. I will try to write about a few that caught my fancy as well as my limited time.

The first space we stopped was of Frances Alleblas. A Dutch artist from Rotterdam who has spent some time in Bali and Hawaii and has now made Singapore her home since 2002.Her work consists of charcoal and pencil drawings, prints and watercolours of different sizes. Her work has an elusive dream like quality and she seems to be drawing from different literary and allegorical associations and hence uses woven symbolism.  Personally loved her close crops of faces and the lovely layering done; almost a psychological study of the subject be it an animal or a character.

The next stop was walking into an art institution, the Inspri Fine Art, where father, mother and daughter all practice and sell the art they are comfortable with. Chin Oi Tow, an art teacher and a former art critic for The Straits Times, husband to the artist Chin Mui Siang, and father to the youngest artist at home, Chen Xing. The entire home has all their art spread out in different rooms. While Oi Tow’s work is more about portraits of personalities or animals, Mui Siang’s is beautiful water colours which she says she learnt from her husband. Chen Xiang is actually a Neuroscientist by profession who discovered she is ambidextrous, when she started doing her intricate urban structures. They do rely a lot on the Wessex art walk to get the awareness they need for their art. If you make an appointment with them you can actually visit them any time of the year.

Third stop was a nice colourful stop at Rasha Eleyan’s home. She is currently exploring the pernakan tiles in her own bold style. She also had miniature tile painting as the activity for her visitors. A great way, to engage kids. While my son did take an interest for a bit, he was then more interested in playing with her son Ali, who happened to be almost the same age. Rasha and I too found out that we were soon to exhibit together at an upcoming exhibition. More about that, in another, blog post. Stay tuned is all I can say now. Rasha uses the Wessex more as her living space and has a studio in Lower Delta. 

It was a pleasure stopping at my friend Joyce Loo’s space. Joyce is a ceramic artist and until recently ran the viridian Art House. Currently she is happy creating without having to worry about the hurdles of managing a gallery space. Her work especially just outside her home has an installation feel to it. Her latest work with wine bottles seemed such a practical idea for a gift too. Do check her work out especially her ant installation.

If you are looking for lively colourful art you need to check out Patricia Cabaleiro’s modern colourful abstract canvases. She is currently collaborating with the German artist Britta Hagemann and the merger of their interpretations has a slight psychedelic feel to it. 

D’ArtStudio houses the artist Chye’s work. His advertising background spills on the extensive huge scenes he plots on his canvas. The detailed scene of Chinatown and the down memory lane look at the festive scene there seems a little macabre in his black and white interpretation. His figurative work he told me comes from memory of working in advertising and the varied image bank he seems to have collected. The work that really caught my attention was the lovely curtain to separate the kitchen from the living/exhibiting area. We had a nice discussion of colour choices and what work he feels reflects the inner artist. I confessed being a little stuck with black grey and white with that splash of red. He laughed and pointed how he was doing the same. 

On the whole it seemed nice to walk in and see how other artists like myself were living in their homes and what they were doing to get their work noticed out there. I wish I had visited prior to the event and had a chance to write this for them as a pre-event coverage as they could surely use some advertising.

By the way if you are there, don’t miss the historic Colbar in the corner. The food is local and the cheapest option in the vicinity, and don’t miss their curries. Yes yes, we artist love our food. Do take a look at the images and if you need links to these artists just Google them. They all do have websites.

Thinker or Volatile Being

As I observe more artwork and artists in general, a thought comes to mind, the artist as a volatile person or the artist as a thinker.

I have had the good fortune to meet many established artists; they all are happy beings with a celebrative attitude towards their life and society. That having been said, their art is often of a different disposition from their behaviour. Yes their art is reflective and often a comment on society.

When one reads the Greek philosophers, one definitely understands that the artist is a recorder of their times. As Aristotle points out, there is a distinction between art and history. While history just records things as it happens, art has the liberty to depict in the universal character, hence art has an elevated role as compared to history.

Now with the above I think the responsibility on the artist is huge as they, then, according to Aristotle are elevated recorders. Then the question of personal biases would creep in and yet if one studies a period, we tend to see a general emergence and that probably constitutes the psyche of the times, be it in style or subject.

My personal understanding is that my preference is with the artist as a thinker or a philosopher who is almost removed from the subject to be fair to its depiction. I cannot find myself in empathy with an artist as a volatile person yet their art unable to express their state of mind. That seems to be an unresolved being. They need to meditate more on process and expression of their thoughts as an unresolved being, creates art the time period can’t identify with.

A thinker hence cannot find himself replicating his own work or anyone else’s as that has already been done and explored. The need to say it differently challenges the creative mind and hence gets the juices flowing. The constant mingling of thought and process is what gives birth to what we call “ART”. My vote is hence for artist as a thinker, where all the volatile thoughts are being expressed and not just implied in personality.