Dance of the Peacock
In today’s feature, we explore a rare gem of contemporary Indian Art, Om. Om has been creating art for the past 60 years. His collection of over 1000 works are now, for the first time, commercially available to lovers of art via museum quality giclées at his online gallery,
www.omexpressions.com.
Why did you become an artist?
You could say it was ingrained in me before even birth, since my family claims descent from the author of Vishnudharmottara Purana, the treatise of Arts in India dating back to 4th century A.D. My maternal grandfather, as a sanskrit scholar, used to paint drawings on the margins of his writings, so perhaps that was a more direct genetic cause.
At a personal level, even as a child, I was always fascinated by content that exudes the vibrant energy of life, such as in the instinctive mating dance of a peacock that I’ve shared with you. This fascination, combined with my responses to it, led to me to create art.
How do you respond to this energy?
This “life” force I find in my content, which is forceful and vibrant, is presented as an “inner light” in my paintings. I called this concept ”Prana Aesthetics” in my academic research, and it forms the core of all my art. An example of this inner light is in the glow of the peacock as he’s dancing in longing for a mate, or the glow of life in a desert right after a precious rainfall.
My responses to this “inner light” are both highly spiritual and deeply intimate, emotional. This leads me to a very strong bond with my work. The key is to express these emotional and spiritual responses, in a way that is authentic to their spirit. I do this by creating my work in a spontaneous, “fleeting” manner, to capture to the best capacity possible that emotional-spiritual feeling.
How do you implement this spontaneous response in your work?
The spontaneity in my reflections leads to elements of abstraction in my work, however I am keenly focused on the human experience. I emphasize this by using strong, broad strokes and employment of various color techniques.
This implementation is an evolving process. Even after six decades of intimate experience in both the eastern and western traditions in Art, I still continue to grow in my reflections and see this inner light in new ways at new levels all the time.
What type of media do you prefer?
It really spans everything – watercolors, oils, oil pastels, frescos, mosaics, original digital works, and photographic experimentations. In fact, these days I find myself sketching 3D works that are synchronized with the life energy in my content, such as natural features.
We’ve heard you do not sell originals. Why?
It goes back to the sense of reflection I have to the vibrant energy of life, to this “inner light” in my content. This reflection is emotional, spiritual, but most of all, deeply intimate. It also forces me, and my family (wife and kids), to create an extremely strong bond with my work. It also drives other aspects, such as the size of my paintings, most of which are 22 X 30 – so that the viewer (or me) can develop the same sense of intimacy and emotional bond with the reflection to life captured in the work. In all, these paintings are a collection of my life experiences, slices of my life, which form deeply personal motifs for me and my family.
Technology, over the past 60 years I’ve been painting, has caught up. While the originals are in a legal trust never to be sold, we offer museum quality, limited edition, giclees. The process is quite expensive, and requires a lot of time and dedication to achieving the quality we offer. I often joke with my printer friend that its faster for me to create a new work spontaneously than to capture the essence of one via a giclee. However, I enjoy it tremendously, as it gives me the opportunity to reconcile my philosophical beliefs with the desire to share my creations with the world.
How can interested readers know more about you?
Well, feel free to visit my online gallery at www.omexpressions.com. It contains tons of information on my background, a tremendous variety of art that we keep increasing, and critical reviews and other musings I publish. In addition, you can connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites.
Finally, I can always be reached at omexpressions@gmail.com at any time and am eager to interact with fellow lovers of contemporary art.