If in work you meet with some difficulties

TITLE: Sincerity # 5 (13/01/07)MATERIALS: Acrylic on canvasSIZE: 22cm x 30cm x 3.5cmFOR SALE:contact sophia@sophiaelise.co.nz

Heavily textured, painted in rich earthy tones with metallic bronze highlights. I really wanted to apply resin to this one as I feel it would bring out the rich colour......maybe I still will if I get the time!

The quote is written on the side and reads

"If in work you meet with some difficulties, look sincerely into yourself and there you will discover their origin" Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Posted by Sophia Elise at 1:22 PM

Surfer who has already become a cathedral himself

From Kroker's C Theory page The Ultimate Cathedral Mordechai Omer and Avi Rosen Translated from Hebrew by Sonia Dantziger

Since James Joyce vision of the cathedral seems to be the first envisaging of what we now know as cyberspace I found this article very interesting in its cross epochal hermeneutic application of cyberculture theory. - by Rich on Sun 21 Jan 2007 10:34 PM PST Permanent Link

In conclusion, throughout human history, man has tried to understand his relationship to the powers at work in the Universe, and to unite with them. The structures in their respective generations, from pre-history to the Pyramids, the temples and the cathedrals, were instruments to unify man with his God, according to man's technical ability. Man's hope was that unification would grant him eternal life. The digital media epoch turned cathedrals from physical structures to structures of digital information, so man too was privileged to transform his physical body to higher dimensions. This revolution led to a change in the way man is described graphically in the Universe.

Cyberspace has enlarged the range of human body and consciousness to the final boundaries of the speed of light, by means of electronic components (silicon), which connect man to the Universe. One can see in this description an expression of quantum mechanics in which particles are in a state of super-position, that is to say, at the same time in every location in space (net), until the act of differentiation is carried out, (action on net data), leading to the collapse of the super-position wave function to a discrete state absorbed by the surfer's consciousness. The surfer too is in a state of super-position and is part of the Universe wave function that comprises everything. Man's consciousness indeed influences the reality in his vicinity via cyberspace. Reality has again become, as in the distant past, a mixture of the products of soul, dream, trance, and myth, together with the material tangibility of daily existence. The cyclical concept of time and space, that dominated pre-historic culture, and was replaced by logical, linear, western concepts, has returned to its starting point, by way of the cyberspace closed loop of time and space.

The Super-cathedral containing the self reflection in cyberspace. Avi Rosen, 2006. [36] The Universe familiar to us becomes a link to every surfer who has already become a cathedral himself. Cyberspace electronically compresses the events in the Universe into the singularity of the electronic cathedral. Man is situated in this singularity, while a finger of his hand extends to almost touch the finger of God opposite him. He discovers that he is enclosed inside a spherical structure lined with membrane mirrors reflecting the images of everything around him. It resembles a scene from the movie "Matrix 3", in which the hero "Neo" confronts the creator of the matrix (the image of an aging man resembling God as pictured by Michelangelo) in a spherical cathedral covered with flat video screens displaying the image of Neo throughout his entire life.

For a minute, it seems to him that he has returned to Pythagoras' world, where man is the center of a flat-Universe, with planets and spheres circling him, and the whole enveloped in God's embrace, as in the medieval illustration described previously. The surfer's finger is trying to reach God's finger. To his amazement he discovers that the Heavenly embrace and the finger of God that he is trying to reach, and almost touches, is not God's finger, but his own. Life is carried in an electronic Panopticon, in which the subject looking out from the center sees around him a flat world circumscribed by his own body extensions. In cyber art the human image appears on silicon, implanted under the subjects' skin, which enables the global membrane extension of his body and consciousness. Existence in this ultimate cathedral is the continuous artistic act of a self-reflective hyper-subject.

The highest vocation is self-knowledge; Art went as far as it can in this direction

What Is Progressive Art? Reginald Shepherd

The concepts of aesthetically progressive or reactionary art, of avant-garde or rearguard art, depend upon a teleological idea of history that derives from Hegel and has been mostly fully developed in relation to the arts by the art critic Clement Greenberg and by the philosopher and art critic Arthur C. Danto, who writes, in very Hegelian terms, that “it is possible to read twentieth-century art as the collective quest for the essence and nature of art” (“Approaching the End of Art”). I would like to offer a brief sketch of the history of this teleological notion of the history of art, in order to better illuminate what such terms as “progressive” or “avant-garde” art might mean for us today. This is in no way intended as a comprehensive survey, nor do I necessarily endorse the positions laid out here. I present them for consideration, as an historical perspective is often missing in discussions of the avant-garde.1

In Hegel’s theory of history, outlined in his Introduction to the Theory of History, published in 1832, the course of history is the progress of Spirit (Geist) coming to consciousness of itself as Spirit, of consciousness coming to awareness of itself as consciousness. History is the self-realization of Spirit. Freedom is Spirit’s essence, and its goal is the complete realization of freedom, which Hegel defines as full self-consciousness: Spirit’s unique capacity both to know and to be what it knows, to be simultaneously the object and the subject of knowledge. Every civilization represents Spirit’s partial self-knowledge, and each civilization is superseded as Spirit moves on to a fuller self-realization. Though I will be using the term Spirit throughout this piece, in keeping with the standard translations, Geist can also be rendered as Mind, or even as Consciousness.

In his Philosophy of Fine Art (published posthumously from lecture notes in 1835), Hegel works out this historical theory in terms of the arts. The history of art is the history of Spirit’s search for material embodiment, seeking out forms that can physically manifest its inner tensions and resolutions. As Danto writes, “The story of art is the story of art’s role in the grand history of the spirit.”...

For Clement Greenberg, the modern history of visual art is constituted by each medium’s search for what is intrinsic and essential to it and each medium’s discarding of all that is extrinsic and inessential, in particular whatever is shared by other media. “It seems to be a law of modernism—thus one that applies to almost all art that remains truly alive in our time—that the conventions not essential to the viability of a medium be discarded as soon as they are recognized…. And it is understood, I hope, that conventions are overhauled, not for revolutionary effect, but in order to maintain the irreplaceability and renew the vitality of art in the face of a society bent in principle on rationalizing everything. It is understood, too, that the devolution of tradition cannot take place except in the presence of tradition” (“‘American-Type’ Painting”). Interestingly, Greenberg sees the history of literature, in this sense, as having ended before that of painting: “This process of self-purification appears to have come to a halt in literature simply because the latter has fewer conventions to eliminate before arriving at those essential to it (“‘American-Type’ Painting”)...

The philosopher and art critic Arthur C. Danto has further developed this Hegelian model. Whereas for Greenberg the history of modern art is the story of each medium discovering and reducing itself to its essence, for Danto that history is the story of the pursuit of the smallest distinction between art and life, the zero degree of difference. For Danto, this zero degree was reached with Andy Warhol’s Brillo box, which posed the question of why one object is art when objects identical to it are not...

In Danto’s summation,“this means returning art to the serving of largely human [and/or individual] ends…. It is no mean thing for art that it should now be an enhancement of human life. And it was in its capacity as such an enhancement that Hegel supposed that art would go on even after it had come to an end. It is only that he did not suppose happiness to be the highest vocation to which a spiritual existence is summoned. For him, the highest vocation is self-knowledge, and this he felt was to be achieved by philosophy. Art went as far as it can in this direction, toward philosophy, in the present century. This is what he would have meant by saying [that] art reaches its end. The comparison with philosophy is not intended as invidious. Philosophy too comes to an end, but unlike art it really must stop when it reaches its end, for there is nothing for it to do when it has fulfilled its task” (“Approaching the End of Art”)....Posted by Reginald Shepherd at 4:21 PM Saturday, January 13, 2007

Integral Art goes right back to Sri Aurobindo himself

Integral Practice, Integral Esotericism - Part Six Alan Kazlev

6-xii. Integral Art

Art and imagination represents a holistic, spatial, intuitive or "right brain" (in the pop new age jargon) perspective that balances the rational-linear, "left brain" thinking of the scientific-empirical mind. This is a polarity that has already been referred to in table 2. Although it should not be limited in this way, because art can be holistic and encompass the entire being as well.

With the Wilberian and post-Wilberian emphasis on theory, we tend to forget that Integral Art has often played a very central role in the Integral Movement. And although Wilber and his followers may have been the first to popularise the term "Integral Art", in keeping with their tendency to prefix any trendy noun with the word "integral"[29], Integral Art goes right back to Sri Aurobindo himself.

Although usually thought of as a philosopher and a yogi, Sri Aurobindo considered himself to be primarily a poet by vocation, and encouraged his disciples to take up poetry as well. His greatest written work was not his any of his philosophical or other writings, but his epic poem Savitri, a work in excess of 23,000 lines, which he wrote and re-wrote over many years. At the surface based on a tale from Hindu mythology, Savitri tells of the eponymous heroine's descent into the realm of the Lord of Death in order to free her husband Satyavan and return with him to the world of the living. This theme of descent into the underworld to free a loved one is also a common one in Mesopotamian and Greek mythology, where however some misfortune or hubris inevitably befalls the hero, preventing the success of the mission. In Sri Aurobindo's version, the poem is actually a metaphoric account of his entire teaching and prophetic vision, with the capacity of transforming the reader's inner consciousness. Symbolically, it represents the conquest of ignornace and the attainment of Supramentalisation.

And whilst Sri Aurobindo was a poet, his co-worker The Mother was an artist and musician, who when young was married Henri Morisset, a student of Gustave Moreau. During this time Mirra became a part of the Paris artistic circles, befriending Rodin, Monet, and others. Just as Sri Aurobindo advised his disciples to take up poetry, so did The Mother encourage art and painting in those who came to her; among them Champaklal, Janina Stroka, and Sanjiban Biswa. Another disciple, Sunil Bhattacharya, was asked by The Mother if he could put Savitri to music; this became a life work that he dedicated over thirty years to[30].

Another devotee of The Mother was Michel Montecrossa, a musician, film director, cyberartist, and futurist, who with her help founder of Mirapuri (a New Age community in Northern Italy) has created a dvd movie based on Savitri[31].

Integral Art (music) was also developed by the German composer Johannes Wallmann, who began developing the holistic artistic concept of Integral Art in 1982[32] His works specialise in three-dimensional sound and landscape sound.

William Irwin Thompson is another integral artist, both in the sense of being a poet, his various interests and description of writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz on ancient texts" (ref needed). He also coined a German neologism Wissenskunst (literally, "knowledge-art") to describe his own work, as "the play of knowledge in a world of serious data-processors", in contrast to Wissenschaft, the German word for science.

Larry and Andy Wachowski's Matrix trilogy portrays important spiritual and philosophical insights, drawing from cyberpunk, transhumanism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Buddhism, and philosophical conceptions of the nature of reality. They incorporated a number of Wilberian themes and are fans of Wilber's work[33].

Within the Wilberian movement, the most important artist is Alex Grey (a member of the Integral Institute), whose work includes performance art, installation art, sculpture, and painting, the latter often depicting aspects of the supernatural world superimposed with aspects of the natural world. , he is also on the board of advisors for the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics. His illustration of Wilber as the bodhisattva Manjushri seems to have been instrumental in Wilber's apotheosis (see TLDI 2-x).

Matthew Dallman[34] has developed his own approach to Integral Art. As he relates in a blog post (later an essay), in 2003 he was asked by Wilber to be the original director of Wilber's Integral University's "art domain", a position he was at the time honoured to accept, in view of Wilber's reputation and status (this was before a lot of the cultic unpleasantness became more widely known; Wilber was still highly respected in the alternative scene). But instead of a project of higher learning and revival of the Humanities, Dallman found the Integral University, and its parent body the Integral Institute, to be a marketing and PR organisation to publicise Wilber's own products[35]. After 16 months of involvement, he broke with Wilber and the Integral Institute, and after fending off Wilber's clumsy attempt to gain legal control and co-ownership of his works, Dallman set up his own music distribution company.

The essays published on his website constitute a number of manifestos and descriptions of Integral Art and Artistry[36], some dating to his Wilberian and pre-Wilberian days, and inspired by Camille Paglia, Marshall Mcluhan, John Dewey, Norman O. Brown, and W. A. Mathieu. Although his on-line essays show some Wilberian (AQAL) influence, Wilber was never a major influence. Like Bauwens, Dallman shows that Wilber's greatest role in the Integral movement has been much less his own ideas or theoretical vision (which are probably comparable to the insights of other, less well known, integral/integrative theorists like Edward Haskell and Stan Gooch), as being a catalyst to bring together a number of highly talented people, many of which then go their own way following their disillusionment with Wilber's narcissistic personality and quasi-cultic organisation. Several of Dallman's insights have been incorporated in this section; no doubt more could be added as well.

Some themes for an Integral Art might include:

• the holistic aspect - involves both a hermeneutic and a practice that includes heart as well as head, art and poetry as well as science/philosophy/psychology/etc (Vivekananda, Steiner, Aurobindo, Gebser)
• the Integrative aspect - incorporates multiple meanings
• the integral transformative aspect - A practice of personal and cosmic renewal.
• Art as sadhana...

Integral Art is thus transformative, both at the individual and collective level. As Matthew Dallman explains: "At every moment of artistic development, as objects are created by the artists, consciousness can be evoked, illumined, and preserved, for the purposes of cultural and personal renewal."[40] But even more than that, Art can also serve as evolutionary sadhana. In other words, in addition to or as an alternative to cosmic renewal, there is cosmic ascent, the use of the artistic form to help establish a new level of spiritual evolution.

This was very much the case with Sri Aurobindo's epic poem Savitri referred to above. In his own words "I used Savitri as a means of ascension. I began with it on a certain mental level, each time I could reach a higher level I rewrote from that level.."[41]

Getting in touch with the collective unconscious and one’s own psyche

Interview with Karena Karras

Carl Jung's writing began to have an impact on my work from the time that I first read “Symbols of Transformation”. It is hard for me to say exactly how Jung's writing informed my work and influenced my perceptions, since there are so many different ideologies that Jung wrote about that have been influential not only in my work but also in my daily life. In reading Jung I began to pay more attention to my dreams and at times parts of these dreams would work their way into a painting. Jung knew that dreams had a definite purpose that helped to reveal to the conscious mind ideologies or concepts that would otherwise have remained hidden deep within our psyche.

So, I began to analyze my dreams and kept a dream journal. Leonora Carrington and I would go to meetings together where we would practice a technique called “focusing”. The technique was developed by Eugene Gendlin, Ph.D., and is a form of self therapy that helps to guide you and awaken you to what lies deep within your subconscious, bringing feelings to the surface where they can be analyzed and resolved. We would sit and tell each other our dreams. One person would talk while another would just listen and then repeat what the dreamer was saying until a point was reached at which the dreamer felt an actual physical release through the telling of this dream. This seemed to me to be a very Jungian approach to getting in touch with the collective unconscious and one’s own psyche.

Before I had encountered Jung’s writings I was reading books by Sri Aurobindo, Wilhelm Reich, Annie Besant, Krishnamurti, to name a few and also books on Alchemy and the occult. Anything dealing with the occult, in the classical Greek meaning of the word as “hidden” knowledge always fascinated me, and so I read whatever I could get my hands on. All of these teachings and relative experiences I had in meditation eventually worked their way into my paintings in one form or another. I feel that everything that we encounter in life that we accept as a part of our conditioned state of existence is in some way informs our work whether we are an artist or not. About January 06, 2007 in Interview Permalink

If there has to be a future art

Re: Physicists Refute Fractal Analysis Of Jackson Pollock's Paintings

by RY Deshpande on Wed 27 Dec 2006 02:14 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

From a professional point of view what you are saying might be impeccable and perfectly satisfying. But I wish to look at things from an Aurobindonian point of view, the authentic spirit of aesthesis speaking about these matters in the possibilities of expression which is an aspect of progress and manifestation. If there has to be a future art, where would this fit in? Please opine. RYD

Decentered patterns which express the dialectic between order and chaos

Re: Physicists Refute Fractal Analysis Of Jackson Pollock's Paintings
by Debashish on Tue 26 Dec 2006 10:41 PM PST Profile Permanent Link

Pollock's drip paintings have their precursor in 15th c. Japanese Muromachi "splashed-ink" paintings or even earlier 8th c. Chinese Tang dynasty drip creamics, a nodal point in the socialization of the art of accident or the accident of art. I find Pollock's paintings beautifully textured, layered if decentered patterns which express the dialectic between order and chaos. The process of their creation is a closeness to universal creative processes. In this lies their profundity and "message of their time" (as RC has accurately described) to me.

Japanese Zen and Zen-influenced painting also aimed at this closeness or identification in a variety of ways. That he was an alcoholic makes little difference here since several of the best Zen painters of Japan also often created under states of heavy sake inebriation - eg. Uragami Gyokudo or in modern times, Munakata Shiko, both of whom imho stand out as giants in the art legacy of the world. DB

See the reality of the abstract behind the abstraction

Re: Physicists Refute Fractal Analysis Of Jackson Pollock's Paintings
by Rich on Mon 25 Dec 2006 10:18 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

Did Pollock succeed? Well as one of the pioneers of abstract expressionism he certainly did. In my opinion some of his canvases express the subtle worlds behind our own, but some of them also just express the chaotic state of his wanderings through the intermediate zone. Does his canvases succeed in expressing a certain subtle truth of the time period he inhabited (which in some ways invoked the intermediate zone). Well I think for the most part they do.

While I certainly agree with Sri Aurobindo's that the highest expression of art is to reveal spiritual truth. I also do not think that we can use that as the sole criteria for pronouncing judgment on a work of art. ( and I have also had this conversation with my brother a staunch catholic) Artistic expression may also express the soul of a certain time period (as I think Pollacks does) it may be offered in a form of social critique, irony, satire, to awaken the viewer to certain social truth or it may simply express ones own creative response to ones own particular experience of being in the world. Now to the extent ones creative response can be universalized to awaken in the observer a sense of recognition and allows them to also internalize the experience the artist intends maybe used as one of the criteria for the success of the work.

I also agree with Sri Aurobindo's comments on Theosophy however I think that two artist who were influenced in part by Theosophy were among the most successful of European painters of the 20th century to express if not always spiritual truth then certainly a vision of the loftier planes of being. One of these artist is Paul Klee and one is Wassily Kandinsky.

The interesting thing I find in non-representational art (e..g. abstract) is that it appears on the scene about the same time when the arrival of photographic and cinematic images begin to saturate human consciousness with an endless array of images which mirror and reproduce the lifeworld we inhabit. Although this trend begins with the Impressionist in the last half of the 19th century. Its almost as if at the advent of the 20th century when new technologies emerge which can accurately mass produce the images of the world, a new medium of artistic expression (Expressionism) evolved which forced the viewer to contemplate the world hidden behind the one we perceive with the senses. rich

by RY Deshpande on Tue 26 Dec 2006 05:11 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

Rich: While I certainly agree with Sri Aurobindo's that the highest expression of art is to reveal spiritual truth. I also do not think that we can use that as the sole criteria for pronouncing judgment on a work of art.

It is not necessary that revelation by the artist of the spiritual truth alone will make art great. Shakespeare had nothing spiritual in him, neither in his person nor in his wonderful art which was with any number of murders. But what an expression of the spirit of life that his is! Somehow he was able to come in intimate contact with the living beings and forces of the life-world, of a certain type, and speak for them in its own forceful and rushing impetuous language, language so perfect for the occasion, to serve the purpose as if it was designed for it. It became an authentic expression of the joy of the life-spirit itself, in spite of the crudeness of human nature and the “barbarous” strength of his presentation. He could tap that life-energy and create a vibrant world with its own charm and with its own power, casting a strange but desirable spell of aesthetic experience on us. The effect is such that the fearful Lady Macbeth turns into the archetypal and, paradoxically, takes away all the fear that is there in it, all the repulsion our sensibilities are prone to. The highest expression of art can come from any of the sources, mental, vital, physical, psychic, mystical, overhead, spiritual, and ablaze with one or more than one sun of the spirit. When that happens it becomes great.

And let us also note that the reverse is not always true. We may have spiritual contents in a piece of literature or art, but that does not necessarily make it an outstanding art. If we have to give an example it could be of AE and Yeats: one was a great mystic and the other an artistic seer, with the other part remaining behind.

About Shakespeare Sri Aurobindo writes: “…his is not a drama of mere externalised action, for it lives from within and more deeply than our external life. This is not Virat, the seer and creator of gross forms, but Hiranyagarbha, the luminous mind of dreams, looking through those forms to see his own images behind them.” And again: “Whatever Shakespeare may suggest, it is not holding up a mirror to life and Nature, but a moved and excited reception and evocation.” It looks as though the flesh and blood in his characters have such capacity that hey can become real in some other world, achieving another kind of quintessentiality far beyond the power of abstraction.

If there is the soul of abstraction, which ought to be there if it has to have contents and significance for us, then this art must bring it out, its laughter and its weeping, its colours and its musical richnesses, its warmth and repugnance, its reality that is the impersonal behind the personal, form of the wonderful formless. Does that happen? Does the art of Pollock see the images of the one it is imaging? see the reality of the abstract behind the abstraction it is making? RYD

What Champaklal achieved in his boutique paintings

Re: Physicists Refute Fractal Analysis Of Jackson Pollock's Paintings
by RY Deshpande on Sun 24 Dec 2006 08:16 PM PST Profile Permanent Link

Even if you assume these conditions, can you tell anything about the success Pollok achieved through his paintings? Did he succeed in getting or revealing what surrealism was posited for, was attempting to do? Could he deliver a solacing message to the War-torn civilisation, that its wounds could be healed by it? Or it was just a naked show of those ugly things and happenings which kill all our sensibilities? Have the subtle physical realities shone out in his creations in any deeply satisfying manner? If he has an element of mysticism, of whatever kind it be, did he realise that there is something else also than the ideal of rationality in evolution driving it and making it progress? Define a yard-stick and measure him with it. Aesthetic values are always subjective, but there is a universality as well that comes from the regions of this spirit or the soul. How far did the subjective become universal in him? Otherwise the work will greatly lose its significance.

Take the boutique paintings. The colours floating on the surface of water can at times elicit situations when some invisible eye starts seeing the wonders of creation from the depths below. The veil is penetrated and at once shines out the face of the indefinable. From the dark ocean of inconscience, salilam apraketam of the Rig Veda, a new world seems to take birth. This is what at times Champaklal achieved in his boutique paintings.

“Modern Art opines that beauty is functional! that is, whatever serves its function or serves a true purpose is artistic and beautiful—for instance, if a clerk produces a neat copy of an official letter without mistakes, the clerk and his copy are both of them works of art and beautiful!”

This is from Sri Aurobindo writing in 1935. Apropos of surrealism, it acquires meaning and value if it can go deep enough in its dream-experience, almost touching the soul-state, the inner bordering the psychic. If from that state can spring up an artistic expression, it at once becomes convincing and fulfilling. Does it happen in Pollok? He need not have anything spiritual in a direct sense, but the evocations do matter. Should we not assess him for that?

Creativity based on the unconscious process can be dangerous. The danger is of entering into the Dangerous Intermediate Zone so dreaded by the spiritual aspirants. And remember there is always a Mephistopheles waiting there to entice the gullible soul of man. To be a Mystic of the Unconscious can be self-glorifying, the lure of becoming important. But see how disastrous it turns out to be even for the accomplished. I will just quote a passage from Sri Aurobindo vis-à-vis the theosophists.

“From one point of view I cannot find praise warm enough to do justice to the work of Theosophy; from another I cannot find condemnation strong enough to denounce it. It has forced on the notice of an unwilling world truths to which orthodoxy is blind and of which heterodoxy is afraid or incredulous. It has shown a colossal courage in facing ridicule, trampling on prejudice and slander, persisting in faith in spite of disillusionment, scandal and a continual shifting of knowledge. They have kept the flag of a past & future science flying against enormous difficulties. On the other hand by bringing to the investigation of that science—not its discovery, for to the Hindu Yogin it is known already—the traditional European methods, the methods of the market-place and the forum, it has brought on the truths themselves much doubt and discredit, and by importing into them the forms, jugglery and jargon of European mystics, their romanticism, their unbridled imagination, their galloping impatience, their haste, bragging and loudness, their susceptibility to dupery, trickery, obstinate error and greedy self-deception, Theosophists have strengthened doubt and discredit and driven many an earnest seeker to bewilderment, to angry suspicion or to final renunciation of the search for truth. They have scattered the path of the conscientious investigators, the severe scientists of Yoga who must appear in the future, with the thorns and sharp flints of a well-justified incredulity and suspicion. I admit the truths that Theosophy seeks to unveil; but I do not think they can be reached if we fall into bondage even to the most inspiring table talk of Mahatmas or to the confused anathemas and vaticinations hurled from their platform tripods by modern Pythonesses of the type of Mrs Annie Besant, that great, capacious but bewildered and darkened intellect, now stumbling with a loud and confident blindness through those worlds of twilight and glamour, of distorted inspirations, perverted communications and misunderstood or half-understood perceptions which are so painfully familiar to the student and seeker. If these things do not satisfy me, what then do I seek? I seek a light that shall be new, yet old, the oldest indeed of all lights.”

We have to have vibrancy, another vision of things, a gaze looking into the luminous spaces of spiritual calm that alone supports the expression of love and joy and sweetness and and beauty and happiness of form, even its assertive dynamism. That gives a real push to evolution.

O T Ravindran, an Indian painter of plants, once wrote about a cactus. “Plants, especially the natural ones (as opposed to those artificially made) have a vibrancy of their own. They only need our help to bring out the beauty in them. Even the weed growing unnoticed in the thicket is strikingly beautiful. Plant them, sketch them and arrange them and they become pieces of fine art. Art, whatever man may claim it to be, is nothing but his sincere effort to imitate the unattainable perfection that is Nature.” Imitate, ...well! But at least imitate it well!

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa quotes Kabir: The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my Mother. That’s it. RYD

Form has to express inner beauty and harmony of the thing

Re: Physicists Refute Fractal Analysis Of Jackson Pollock's Paintings
by RY Deshpande on Sun 24 Dec 2006 06:19 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

Scientific fractal or no fractal, I wish to understand, and enjoy, the spirit of beauty in a creative art, of whatever kind that be. Whatever be the technique and whatever the means of execution, form has to express inner beauty and harmony of the thing; it can even attempt the expression of the formless--as we have the infinity of calm on the sculptured statues of Buddha in the Ajanta-Elora caves. Can someone please look into it from that point of view and evaluate Pollock's paintings? Thanks and Merry Christmas to everybody. RYD

by Rich on Sun 24 Dec 2006 03:36 PM PST Profile Permanent Link

Pollock's painting perhaps retains an influence of the automatic writing which inspired early 20th century European surrealist and also perhaps due to the growing popularity of psycho-analysis sought to express the pure spontaneity of the unconscious process underlying creativity. Perhaps one can view in his work the coming into being of certain subtle physical realities or perhaps they just reflect the chaotic state of Pollock's own unconscious influenced by his bouts of manic depression and alcoholism. Of course his work can also be viewed according to the emerging trends in the arts of the time, which were themselves influenced by the devastation of civilization triggered by the World War, which shattered any idea that evolution was progressive and driven by and central organizing ideal of rationality.

His canvas like some modernist literary works or contemporary atonal music of the time lack a defined center or focal point. The entire canvas is both center and periphery. This is an idea which of course has spilled over into the postmodernist worldview. His earlier works however are influenced by American heart land artist Thomas Hart Benton, (an artist I much admire)- and demonstrate that he could also beautifully portray form in a classical sense. also a merry christmas to all, and hope to see everyone in Pondi in Jan. rich

I'm an extremely tactile person

LIFE IS THE COLOUR YOU PAINT IT - Daily inspirational paintings by New Zealand artist Sophia Elise This is a new series I have started which is unlike any of my other art. Each day, from December 1st 2006, I will complete a painting with a favourite saying, quote or phrase on it - My thought for the day. Each month will have a different focus or theme.

Sophia Elise, Auckland, NZ : I am a self-taught artist living in Auckland with my partner and four children. I balance our busy home life with working as a nurse, managing the New Zealand Art Guild and painting with any free moment I have. My art can be found in select NZ galleries and has sold internationally. I paint in acrylics, as the quick drying properties suit my abstract minimalist style. I'm an extremely tactile person and incorparate this love of texture in most of my art. I feel the extra dimension this adds enormously satisfying. Drawn from the depths of my emotions and forged by my environment and experiences my uniquely original art is a window into my soul. "If my art can reach into the soul of another and emotionally and spiritually touch that person, then it’s all worthwhile." email: sophia@sophiaelise.co.nz View my complete profile

The words read "Let all circumstances, all happeneings in life, be occassions constantly renewed for learning more and more" - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

The Mother as an artist

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On 13 October 1897, Mirra Alfassa married the artist Henri Morisset. She kept the name Alfassa. Henri Morisset, born in Paris on 6 April 1870, was eight years older than she and already had an established reputation as an artist. He had studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts with Gustave Moreau, the Symbolist painter, who taught Matisse around the same time. Moreau was a liberal teacher who did not impose his own style on his students. Before entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1889, Morisset had studied for four years at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs. There his teachers were Bouguereau and Robert-Fleury, who were also professors at the Academic Julian. Morisset was enrolled at the Academic Julian in 1889, as is shown by a surviving register of male students. It was apparently not uncommon at this time for art students to study simultaneously at the Academic Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

We do not know when the Mother met Henri Morisset, but it is likely that she knew him for a few years before their marriage and that he was instrumental in her joining the Academic Julian. She was introduced to him by her grandmother Mira Ismalun, who had long known Henri's father Edouard Morisset, a noted artist. Mira Ismalun (whose portrait in pencil, done by the Mother in 1905, is reproduced on p. 49) lived much of her life in Egypt. There she was employed to supply the wardrobes of the princesses, which she ordered from the best dressmakers in Paris. She also commissioned portraits of the princesses "to be done from photographs by the painters Vienot and Morisset"." This may have been the origin of her acquaintance with Edouard Morisset. In her reminiscences in 1906, Mira Ismalun enumerated her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, ending with her daughter Mathilde and her family:

Finally, Mathilde and her husband Maurice Alfassa, who became a French citizen in 1889, have had, after losing a son Max, two children: Matteo, who entered the colonial service on graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique and married Eva Brosse, and Mirra, who married the well known painter Henri Morisset; I knew his father, and it was I who first took her to their home. They have had a son, André.

André was born on 23 August 1898. Earlier that year, Mirra and Henri had been in Pau, a town in the southwest of France, painting murals in a church.

Auroville, the international village

Wednesday, November 29, 2006 Great feast for your eyes in this new village. I don’t know why but the word ‘Village’ when followed by another word sounds somewhat sophisticated. But almost anyone’s curiosity is kindled when they read ‘Food Village’, ‘Cultural Village’, ‘Art Village’, ‘Handicrafts Village’, and ‘International Village’ and so on.So what one would expect to find in such niche villages is a congregation of that activity or products that is relevant to the word that precedes ‘Village’.

For example, there is a place called ‘Auroville’ near my city Madras in India founded by the Aurobindo ashram. In this international village, citizens of various countries are allowed to settle down. I had to search the internet to meet out my son’s request for some new computer wallpapers; the ever dependable Google directed me promptly to a ‘Wallpaper Village,’ where upon entering, I stopped dead in my tracks. posted by Malathy at 12:53 AM Malathy Badri Location:Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India

Auroville architect Anupama Kundoo

Editorial: November 2006 Be careful of what you wish for, or you might turn into Wolf Prix: reflections on the 2006 RAIA national conference November 10, 2006. In Apil 2006, architects gathered at Darling Harbour in Sydney for “the future is now!”, the annual RAIA conference. The conference gathered together an interesting mix of speakers as stylistically and philosophically diverse as Carme Pinos, Elke-Delugan-Meissl, Kerry Hill, and Andrew Freear from Rural Studio...

However, despite the optimism and atmosphere of good-will permeating the conference, for me there was a disturbing subtext which seemed to underpin the entire event, and which told a story all the more powerful for not being explicitly articulated. This story is architecture eats its young, or turns them into monsters, and is best exemplified by the presentations of three architects: Anupama Kundoo, Timothy Hill, and the keynote speaker Wolf Prix.

Anupama Kundoo is an Indian architect in her thirties who heads Kolam, an architecture, design and construction unit established under the Auroville Foundation in south east India. In addition to research, design and construction of architectural projects, Kolam also undertakes innovative urban management studies; the architectural education of rural students; experimentation with construction and infrastructure technologies for sustainable development; and hands-on workshops and seminars in schools, institutions and universities.

Anupama’s presentation was a joyful and delightful tale of can-do attitude and problem-solving in challenging situations. She contextualised the problems facing a rapidly developing India – urbanisation, globalisation, sustainability, and concrete – and walked us through projects where locally made clay vessels become ceilings, and buildings are “cooked” to perfection. Her willingness to embrace the constraints of the local – community, technology, materials, skills – and turn them into successful and beautiful buildings was inspirational for those of us who may be frustrated with planning regulations or a slow broadband connection. posted by beatriz maturana @ 8:19 PM...

India— the cradle of world spirituality

My next destination is India— the cradle of world spirituality—where, along with Nepal, I’m expecting to spend the coming six months. On Tuesday evening I’ll get on a plane bound for New Delhi (from Chicago) and get started on Phase II. India is in the throes of globalization and rapid economic development, and the majority of contemporary artworks that are garnering international attention deal with issues more common to the western art world—globalization, national and individual identity vis the media, gender issues, etc. According to many I’ve spoken with, there is a turning away from spiritual art, at the very time that the west is looking more intensively towards the East for spiritual inspiration and insight.

Nonetheless, I expect to find that those who continue to work on spiritual themes, with declared spiritual intent, and in communities of mystic and spiritual practice to have interesting things to say through their artworks. There is also a relatively large community of Western artists treating spiritual themes in their work living in India today, and these too will be an important component of this phase of work.My research on India suggests that the most active areas for contemporary spiritual art—at least that which is known in the West—is concentrated in Benares (aka Varnassi, Hinduism’s holiest city), in West Bengal (Calcutta and Santineketan), and in the area near Chennai (formerly Madras), where the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (Pondicherry), the Auroville community, and the communities near Arunachala/Trivunamali have attracted and launched a number of recognized artists who create works dealing in spiritual themes...

I want to send out thanks to a couple of people who have helped get me prepared for this voyage. First, Debashish Banerji, Ph.D. a Los Angeles-based expert in Indian art expert who curated “Divine Carriers,” the last comprehensive look at Indian contemporary spiritual art in 1996. posted by Phil at 4:25 PM

Contemporary Spiritual Art

The Spiros Project - Exploring the World of Contemporary Spiritual Art by Debashish on Mon 13 Nov 2006 08:31 AM PST Permanent Link Sunday, November 12, 2006 Images from the Spiros Project So Far posted by Phil at 1:20 PM <<> Name:Phil Psilos Location:Roaming, Southeast Asia

Developing intuitive skills and divergent thinking

K. B. JINAN, Kumbham. Aruvacode Post-graduate Diploma – Product Design, (NID) National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad; 1988 Bachelor in Engineering – Mech. Engg, Maulana Azad College of Technology, Bhopal; 1984

Aim and approach Development of creativity and sensitivity, enabling students to expand their potential and to learn how to learn, through exercises to sensitise their senses, to break habits, using traditional games and using traditional learning methods of the craft communities. Emphasis is on developing intuitive skills and divergent thinking.
1998 Sept onwards Canadian School, Bangalore.
3 days in a month with students of class IV to VII (Students from various parts of the world).
1992 Jan/Feb Aurobindo Integral School, Parlakhemundy
Students 5th and 6th
1991 Sept-Dec Bagusala, Orissa
With village children of Bagusala, Age 4 to 12

The Jewelled Touch

Olaf Van Cleef’s love affair with India Swapan Mullick The Statesman Saturday, 28 October 2006

Twenty years ago, Olaf began his romance with Kolkata. “Here the people are educated and when they buy jewellery, they buy a style. They pick up a jewel as though it is a piece of art’’, says Olaf. His tryst with painting began when he was inspired by the “vibrant colours, the sounds, the sights, the smells and cultures of India’’ and decided to depict them through intricate designs.

By the time he held his first show in Chennai, it was clear that he was seeing artistry amidst dilapidation and beauty in sorrow. His works demonstrated a surge of freedom coming from within. It was at this time that he also discovered the spiritual qualities of India through the writings of Tagore and Aurobindo that were in his words, a “source of soothing delight to my chaotic and unconventional lifestyle’’.

Olaf’s art is an expression of love and a means of giving back to India what he has experienced with great delight. His January show of Indian images on metallic paper dotted with Swarovsky crystals is appropriately called The Jewelled Touch. It should present a world of mystic delights that has become the primary inspiration of Olaf’s art.

Rays and Neutrons, for Art’s Sake

By WILLIAM J. BROAD NY Times Published: October 24, 2006 VIENNA — Eager for precision in a field notorious for ambiguity and frustration, curators at top museums in Europe and the United States have long reached for the instruments of nuclear science to hit treasures of art with invisible rays. The resulting clues have helped answer vexing questions of provenance, age and authenticity.

A view of the research reactor at the University of Missouri, a center that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has used in its research. Archaeological samples are bombarded with neutrons. The results reveal trace elements, which give new information about old sculptures in the museum’s collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art: Set in Stone Ed Alcock for The New York Times. A proton beam is used to study antique jewelry, top, at a Louvre laboratory, above. Now such insights are going global. The International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations unit best known for fighting the spread of nuclear arms, is working hard to foster such methods in the developing world, letting scientists and conservators in places like Peru, Ghana and Kazakhstan act as better custodians of their cultural heritage.

Harmony and rhythm, contrast and theme

07 May 2006 Why is Kathryn Stats so successful as an artist FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT KATHRYN STATS

Kathryn writes "I think a good painting is like a good musical composition." Kathryn states, "It has harmony and rhythm, contrast and theme, sometimes even soloists. Those elements rarely just occur in a natural landscape. I find that I emphasize with detail and color, omit some things, mute others, even rearrange elements to create a composition that conveys my visual experience, my joy, to the viewer. It is this challenge that keeps me painting."

I think the important issues for us to consider, are Kathryn's strategies to achieve a high quality, marketable product. If you do not have a good product, the best of business plans, alone will not necessarily contribute to business success. What can we understand about Kathryn Stat's SCA (sustainable competetive advantage), based on her paintings? What is that in the eyes of her clients may be unique about all of her paintings. And what are the creative strategies she appears to have adopted to achieve this uniqueness? My own view, based on Kathryn's art and web page information is...posted by Bob Abrahams at 5/07/2006 01:55:00 PM 3 comments

All we’re dealing with is Art History

Framing Art—Fitzwilliam Museum The Art of Art History October 21st, 2006 (5 hours, 8 minutes ago) It occurred to me, driving home from Sainsbury’s with the weekly shop, that it could be said we’re not interested in art per se. All we’re dealing with is Art History, and talking about it as the Art of Art History1. Which strikes me as a paradoxical: we’re learning about these historians and how they viewed the progress of art but not looking at the art itself. Hegel theories get illustrated as an aside with examples of Art, when shouldn’t we look at the art to show how they generate Hegel’s theories? Perhaps the latter is easier, as—although the theories usually originate from artworks—they often become tenuous when applied back onto them. The theories by necessity deal with an ideal that rarely finds adequate expression in the world.

It’s tacitly understood, I think, that they (the tutors) are expecting us to take it to a next stage and apply what we’ve learned to art works and also to recognise these theories in other contexts, see how they’ve progressed and informed other theorists or artists. We are being taught Art History as a strictly historical sequence. Every theorist has their place in the sequence. With writings it’s perhaps much easier to deal with moves towards or away from previous writers. The matter of influence.

However, in the same way that Art History has found it hard to get away from the impression of a progression in art works (à la Hegel, Winckelmann) is it mistaken/distracting to judge Art History itself as progressing? If we are to talk of an “Art of Art History”, if it’s an Art then the same principles and developments that it theorizes can equally be applied back onto it. Indeed, if Art History is to be seen as another branch of Art then will the study of it take Art into new areas which will then become fodder for Art Historians.

Maybe Art History will be the revitalization of Art. Of course, artists themselves have already started questioning art historical institutions. Andrea Fraser, Mark Dion, anyone who has been invited to curate an exhibition of works from an art institution’s collection have all rewritten the histories of these works in relation to each other.

• Is this different from if an Art Historian were to do something similar?
• Or would an Art Historian do something else with a similar effect/intention in mind?

I think these days it’s an artificial distinction to make between Artists and Art Historians, the roles are interchangeable. This probably has some effect on the argument itself. 1. Taken from Donald Preziosi ed., The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology, OUP, Oxford, 1998, but also used to describe the course by the tutor, Astrid Schmetterling. Technorati Tags: art, art history, course, hegel, winckelmann This entry was posted 8 hours, 8 minutes ago on Saturday, October 21st, 2006 at 14:30 and is filed under Art, Writing, CORE course

Our hands are free and pure, to start everything afresh

NIHILISM The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age by Eugene (Fr. Seraphim) Rose

Modern art has had a similar appeal, and its similar reaction against lifeless academic "realism" has likewise led into strange fields. New and exotic sources and influences have been found in the art of Africa, the Orient, the South Seas, of prehistoric man, children, and madmen, in spiritism and occultism. Continual "experimentation" has been the rule, a constant search for "new" forms and techniques; inspiration has been found above all in the "savage," the "primitive," and the "spontaneous." Like the Futurists in their manifesto (though Futurism itself can hardly be taken seriously as art), the most typical modern artists have exalted in their works "every kind of originality, boldness, extreme violence," and they have likewise believed that "our hands are free and pure, to start everything afresh."

The artist, according to the Vitalist myth, is a "creator," a "genius," he is "inspired." In his art Realism is transformed by "vision"; it is a sign and a prophecy of a "spiritual awakening." The artist, in short, is a "magician" in his own realm in precisely the same way Hitler was in politics; and in both it is not truth, but subjective feeling, that reigns.

In religion--or, to speak more precisely, pseudo-religion--the restless experimentation characteristic of Vitalism has manifested itself in even more varied forms than it has in the schools of modern art. There are, for example, the sects whose deity is a vague, immanent "force"; these are the varieties of "new thought" and "positive thinking," whose concern is to harness and utilize this "force," as if it were a kind of electricity. Closely related to these are occultism and spiritism, as well as certain spurious forms of "Eastern wisdom," which abandon all pretense of concern with "God" explicitly to invoke more immediate "powers" and "presences."

Art in Auroville

Current issue Archive copies Auroville Adventure June - July 01 Art in Auroville - by the AVToday editors "It is in the service of spirituality that art reaches its highest expression" (Sri Aurobindo)

Art has played a role in community life from the very beginning. Auroville, for many old timers, was not just a desert to be afforested, but also a play of light and space and austere beauty, a place of magic and creativity, a cradle, in Mother's words, for the creation of a new world. Ever since, many Aurovilians have been inspired to evoke this new world and to explore themselves through the medium of art. Efforts to promote the arts, however, were for a long time retarded by the need to first deal with the rudimentary requirements of subsistence. As late as 1988, Auroville was still regarded by some as a cultural desert.
Auroville has come a long way since. At present, many Aurovilians are involved in one or more art forms. A multitude of expressions in dance, visual arts, poetry, music, theatre, and sculpture, enhanced by the rich interaction of eastern and western cultures, have become a normal part of the daily life. More than sixty Aurovilians are pursuing the arts either on a full-time or part-time basis. Kalamitra (Friends of the Arts) formed by a group of Aurovilians to stimulate cultural life in Auroville by promoting a wide range of events and workshops has brought many top artists over the years to perform in Auroville. More recently there have been two initiatives - Khala Koj and the Visiting Artists Residency project - which aim to bring artists from all over the world to Auroville for brief or extended periods of time and to promote artist exchange programmes. To this purpose Kala Khoj has become affiliate member of the international 'Res Artis' network which is represented in over one hundred and twenty countries .These positive developments notwithstanding, resident artists often complain about the almost complete lack of community support. The Maintenance Fund, struggling as it does to provide a minimum maintenance to those working for community services, has hardly any artists on its maintenance lists. Neither is there a support system to help artists to sell their works.
What, then, attracts many artists to Auroville, or, as is often the case, turns Aurovilians into artists? For the majority, the vision of Sri Aurobindo and Mother is the most powerful inspiration - the vision of a new world based upon a new consciousness. In fact, many Auroville artists view their work of artistic creation as a vehicle of their yoga. Mother spoke of an ideal place where the exigencies of existence would be removed in order to allow the individual the freedom to discover him or herself, and this is another important factor. As one artist puts it, "One of the greatest things that happened to me was finding this place and environment where I can spend time and space to search for the inner self, in my case through the arts." Another attraction is the sheer diversity of cultures and individuals represented here which, through the cross-fertilization of ideas and perspectives, creates a ferment of creativity. And Auroville also offers the possibility of continually reinventing oneself, of taking up new ideas and activities without having to conform to social or 'professional' norms.
On a more prosaic level, for a community of 1500 people there are a surprising number of venues at which artists can perform or present their work. Visual artists can exhibit at the Savitri Bhavan, the Centre for Indian Culture, at Pitanga Hall, the Information Centre, or at the Solar Kitchen. Musicians and other performers can use the open-air stage at the Visitors' Center, the large auditorium at Bharat Nivas, the dance room in Pitanga Hall, or the recently opened music salon Salle Auropax.On the flipside, Auroville artists have to deal with a number of discouraging factors. There are, of course, climatic factors which play havoc with musical instruments and other sophisticated or sensitive equipment and materials. Then again exhibitions, while frequent, are not always well-attended. Additionally, few Aurovilians have the means to act as patrons or supporters of the arts through purchasing or commissioning new work, although a few commercial units have commissioned public art. Consequently, full-time artists have to market their work outside Auroville in order to survive, a job for which most artists are badly equipped. Some Auroville artists also resent the fact that their work only gains public recognition when it is used to promote Auroville at a public relations event or for fund-raising efforts.Another problem is the fact that only a small number of outstanding artists or aficionados of the arts reside here - after all, artistically we are still a very young and undeveloped culture. For artists like musicians, it is hard to achieve greater perfection or explore new territory without regularly playing with other musicians of high calibre. For visual artists it may be difficult to see things in new ways if one is not able to challenge one's own thinking through seeing the works and conversing with numerous others.One possibility is for them to draw upon the experience of the many visiting artists who come to Auroville for brief or extended periods of time. They often regard Auroville as a kind of paradise and are eager to share with other artists and to impart specialised skills.
It would be wrong to blame all the disincentives to artistic creation on the community at large: the artists themselves must also take some responsibility. Indian art in all its forms has wonderful potential for expanding one's artistic horizons, yet this source remains largely unexplored by Auroville artists. Again, it is quite common in artist communities and centres of the arts elsewhere for artists to come together frequently to discuss and critique each other's work in a spirit of artistic collaboration. Yet here such forums hardly exist. Another criticism of the arts produced in Auroville is that many artists are reproducing Western definitions of "high art". In this concept art is seen as separate from the mundane world, to be viewed in galleries, or heard in auditoria. The commitment to this orientation explains why so few artists have experimented, for example, with the use of everyday materials or performances that break with the tradition of the proscenium stage.
An Auroville culture?
Is a distinct Aurovilian culture or form of artistic expression emerging, something different from what is happening elsewhere? The majority of Auroville artists are cautious about making any such statement, pointing out that a specific culture may take many years to evolve. However, there are at least two indications that something specifically 'Aurovilian' in artistic expression may be in the first stages of birth. Firstly, Auroville artists who exhibit or perform together outside Auroville are often seen by outsiders to be expressing something 'different' from the norm. Secondly, there is increasing evidence, particularly in the realm of music, that Auroville artists are no longer merely drawing upon existing material or trends but are increasingly experimenting with new forms.This raises the question of what Aurovilians expect from the community's artists. A few years ago when Beckett's play Waiting for Godot was staged, some members of the theatre going audience expressed disapproval, stating that the play was inherently irrelevant to life here. A similar verdict was pronounced on a performance of Japanese butoh dance a few years later. The suggestion is that only certain subjects are appropriate to be worked on and viewed in Auroville - presumably those which can somehow be described as 'spiritual' art. But how do you define 'spiritual' art? The more one thinks about it, the more impossible it becomes, for almost any form of expression can be a means of evoking or exploring the subtler realms in the hands of an inspired artist.
Though there are many concrete and mental stumbling blocks to artistic creation in Auroville, there is a definite sense of the tremendous potential this place has for the creative process, and there is little question that the overall quality of artistic work is steadily improving. With the diverse population and beautiful environment, one may expect that Auroville will not only attract many fine artists, but produce more and more of them itself so that, together, they will make of the city and its greenbelt one gigantic work of art.
Editors Home > Journals & Media > Journals > Auroville Today > Art in Auroville Current issue Archive copies Auroville Adventure

Surrounding and Being

Volume 23 - Issue 19 :: Sep. 23-Oct. 06, 2006 INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINEfrom the publishers of THE HINDU • Contents HERITAGE Timber classics RAMU KATAKAM PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOGINDER SINGH The extraordinarily beautiful wooden temples spread across Kerala reflect a great simplicity of form.

THE INTERIOR OF the Sri Vallabhaswami temple at Thiruvalla lit up with oil lamps.
THE architecture of Kerala is unique not only in India but in the world. The extraordinary wooden temples spread across the State reflect a great simplicity of form and materials. Glimpses of Architecture in Kerala is a book that attempts to bring out their special quality of design through images. It portrays a number of major temples that represent Kerala architecture at its finest. The delight with which designers of a different era were able to build and create space in harmony with their surroundings is worth experiencing.
Kerala's waterways, greenery and architecture are experiences that are now becoming scarce in other parts of the country. I had this experience for the first time in the early 1980s, while designing a house for a friend. We were visiting the backwaters when a fisherman offered us his catch. We liked the idea and negotiated a purchase. Before we knew it, a local gardener quickly cleaned the fish, plucked a couple of raw mangoes from a tree close by, and made a chutney with fresh chillies and salt. She fried the fish over a fire built from broken twigs and produced a delicious dish; its taste is still fresh in my memory. This small gesture has always symbolised to me the abundance and self-sufficiency of Kerala.
THE TEMPLE AT Peruvanam.
Many of Kerala's magnificent temples are hidden in the countryside, along its rivers or high up in the hills. In every instance, the location is chosen carefully and the setting is invariably beautiful. Temples in this land are the focus of the lives of people who follow the Hindu faith. Unlike the grand edifices of the more famous Indian temples, these places of worship are low in profile and offer a tranquility and space for prayer that is rare in today's world of intense activity.
THE RAMA TEMPLE at Thripprayar.
Older temples usually have streets leading to them on four sides, each becoming an axis of settlements surrounding the temple. At Peruvanam, one of the streets leads to a temple tank, which in this instance is situated at a distance and the houses on both sides become an extension of the vista. A temple becomes a meeting point where philosophy and politics are discussed. It is also the centre for theatre and traditional dance performances and the main venue to celebrate major festivals.
The temple's roof.
In a town or city, a temple can play a pivotal role in the manner in which the Vadakkunnatha temple in the middle of Thrissur town does. The temple at Mannar, a small town near Kottayam that specialises in making brass lamps, is extraordinarily simple, its sand-covered outer court typifying the style of a Kerala temple.
A PANEL AT the Kaviyur temple depicting Krishna's encounter with demons.
The Kaviyur temple at Kaviyur near Thiruvalla and the Sri Vallabhaswami temple at Thiruvalla are my personal favourites. In scale and detail, they are representative of Kerala temples. These two are masterpieces of their workmanship in timber and the intricate sculpture is a joy to experience. Oil lamps light up the woodwork at the entrance to the Sri Vallabhaswami temple and illuminate the beautiful interior.
A bird's eye view of the temple.
The theatres attached to a temple are known as Koothambalams and provide a space for other activities related to the temple. These are magnificent timber structures with high roofs and give the designer and the builder a chance to work on a larger scale than is available to them when making temple shrines. Decorative elements within the Koothambalams are areas where the sculptor and the painter are given more opportunities to use their skills. The temple tank is another major feature of the complex. Used for bathing before entering the temple, these water bodies are able to give a balance to the architecture.
THE KOOTHAMBALAM AT the Vadakkunnatha temple in Thrissur.
In northern Kerala, there is a kind of austerity to both the landscape and the design of temples. The Rama temple at Thripprayar has very few frills, but it blends in with the natural landscape. The Ananthapadmanabhaswami temple near Kumbla in Kannur district is surrounded by water. Close to it are the ruins of a once prosperous settlement, a lone oak tree conveying the desolation of the place.
Light filtering in through the trellis work in a wall of the Koothambalam.
Designers of these extraordinary structures were able to soften the sunlight; yet there is enough natural light to illumine and enhance the interiors, the play of light and shade adding a special quality to the way the architecture is experienced. The murals and wooden sculptures, portraying events in the lives of gods, complete the design. Episodes from the life of Krishna are depicted in the elaborately carved panels surrounding the Srikovil (main shrine). The panels also tell stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The dark confines of the garbha griha (sanctum santorum), which houses the deity, is lit up with oil lamps.
Inside the Koothambalam.
The basic form of the temples has remained unchanged for centuries, yet each temple is unique. Inside the temple, one is either alone with oneself or one with the gathering of devotees. It is a space that allows the individual to become aware of his/her being. Sri Aurobindo observes that Indian architecture is built in relation to its surroundings and the sky.
KRISHNAPURAM PALACE IN Kayamkulam near Kollam.
He also says that "the buildings should be seen in loneliness, in the solitude of one's self, in moments when one is capable of long and deep meditation and as little weighted as possible with the conventions of material life". Kerala temples, as the images illustrate, are reflections of this kind of architecture and bring balance back to one's life. Ramu Katakam can be contacted at ramu@katakam.com , Joginder Singh at jogisingh@gmail.com