After plumbing the depths of human depravity in my last few posts, I thought it’s time for a little soul food, or at least soul hors d’oeuvres. Ah that’s the devil coming out in me.
Actually I’m going to write a little about one of my all time favourite artists, Sandhya Singh. Sandhya’s art is inspired by the Greek philosopher Plato’s memorable quote, “Music gives a soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and …. life to everything”. Sandhya has been depicting classical music in her paintings for a number of years.
Sandhya’s philosophy is that music with its eternal bliss is a soul of life. Sandhya says she is fascinated by music and its extraordinary divine powers to soothe, heal, regale and support:
“My discovery of music has been helped in no small measure by the heart-stirring, soulful renderings of many great maestros in the field. I have studied Indian classic music on my own. As an artist I wanted to experiment by blending music with art. My fascination for music turned into inspiration to capture its simplicity, humility, harmony and rhythms through the medium I knew best, my canvas. Thus began my journey on the musical road.”
In capturing the essence of music on canvas, the artist takes recourse to the abstract, utilizing harmonious mixtures of colours to represent tonal harmony and the illusion of repetitive motion to represent musical rhythm:
“I use wave motion to represent the progression and the eventual merging of the notes into the infinity of time and space. Besides the progression, music also has an emotional aspect – the aspect that affects us the most. I listen to the musical renditions of Hindustani classical musicians Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Hari Prasad Chaurasia and then try to depict their legendary works through my brushstrokes.”
Pointing out that mood is related to colour and vice versa, Sandhya says a colour always evokes a particular mood:
“Hence a colour combination symbolizing a specific mood can be used by rendering musical notes, corresponding to seasonal raga.”
Short, sweet and to the point! I would encourage anyone who has an opportunity to see Sandhya’s work to take it. Her synthesis of music and colour via the medium of her canvases is awe inspiring, the awe stemming from her reliance on technique, colour and image rather than technology gives a depth of meaning to a beguilingly simple concept. This is art from the soul, which is where it should come from.
I’ll leave you on this harmonious note, after a wrathful week of tasers, bashings and other unpleasantness!