Japanese Stencils

The graphic art of Japan has had a profound effect upon western
culture. Without it, the work of Van Gogh, Whistler and many other
artists would have looked profoundly different. It had a great
influence on the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements of the
late 19th Century. The Repeating Pattern stencils in this collection
display the full range of traditional Japanese decorative elements.
These examples are taken mostly from Kimono designs of the Edo
period which lasted from the 17th to the 19th Centuries. There are
realistically rendered designs based on Bamboo, Clouds, Waves and
other aspects of the natural world alongside geometric abstractions
of Hemp Leaves and Tortoise Shells.
Then again the traditional Bengal schools watercolors (wash
technique) were introduced in India by the Japanese. In 1903,
Japanese scholar and art critic Okakura sent his two artist
disciples, Yokoyama Taikan and Hisbida Sbunso, to India, who
stayed with the Tagores in Calcutta.
Silk has been a glorious past. This material connected me with
from Afghanistan to far away Japan. It entered to India through
historical Silk Route. And then I found that there have been
significant numbers of paintings and decorative arts done on silk.
Although, I was already aware of the rich historical lineages of the
Oriental, Middle Eastern tradition of silk and paintings on silk,
During my study in santinekatan I am go back over wash tempera
on paper and silk, last ten years explored this medium, different
methods. I had to invent my own technique of stretching silk as for
my own requirement. I started working on different size of panels
(both horizontal and vertical) of silk, stretched on wooden stretchers
without having a preconceived notion of their usages.
Using natural pigments by means of brushwork on stretched silk, I
started laying floral motifs of ornamental designs, and wash by
water immediately just after lying. As a result, the layer of the
pigment goes away from the surface, but the bonding of natural
pigments with silk within its texture could not be washed away.
Thus, the silk surface comes up as a hazy ornamented background
made of residual pigments that recalled sensation of faded old
printed textile. This gloomy quality of the background helped in
creating the spiritual abstract spaces of my paintings. Taking the
cue from such thoughts, I find human experience, as well as artistic
experience is fragmented, ruptured by time and space, if not by
numerous factors. As a practitioner of visual medium, I thought of
assembling different frames of my mind and emotions into smaller
panels and having the assemblage creating an ensemble to narrate
a different story. Very much in the tradition of scroll painting,
where every panel has a story to tell, a mood to capture, a glance to
share, dream to dwell on. And when such panels or frames come
together, they invoke a completely different effect of meditative
stillness because its narrative runs through not only horizontal or
vertical axis, but relates in the every direction of the multi-
perspective space arrangement. The dimensions of the panels
depend on the length of emotions and stories they carry. It is very
much like a person settles in given space. Occasionally the natural
designs and patterns, motifs and vibration of colors are also the
part of my expressions depending on the length of panels.
Gradually the aggregate of those expressions narrate a whole story
creating a grand cosmic symphony with the mingling of the
universal and the particular, the spiritual and the material and also
the indefinite and the finite.
I study silk wash painting in a row through Chinese and Japanese
painting books. Today my realization I found myself is not a
finished, my journey is long, and its taking long. I also very
enthusiastic about Japanese scroll making on silk, and stencil art,
in the long run silk painting on wooden stature its very difficult to
show or carry here to there. Silk panel also very sensitive in favor of
care for, its occupied more spaces. As contemporary position, my
silk painting practice is very dicey to participated groups show, and
curetted show, without frame is not possible to show, as my
painting concern when its frame all miniature details are gone.
My earnest desire Japanese two most sensitive art practice I
should achieve during my stay in Japan and I also create a new
window.

Art has no boundary, it flows like air. But people and countries
have boundaries, still people travel from one geography to another.
Thats how art and culture migrate and are recognized by others. I
want my works to cross borders and be recognized by other
geographies. I think this is a collective relationship.
When border shifts, the lens through which we view the world also
changes. Despite the ongoing change, I believe in a universality of
some aspects that always remain the same, such as the affective
quality of music and the longing for transcendence that I figure
through the leitmotifs of the wander lust figures and the mystic
souls. These archetypal figures may have different physical and
racial features and move through different gestures; they all
embody a universal soul and its yearning for a higher world. Today
in a world where commodities rule our dreams, our experience
emotions and understanding of our existence of life are very
fragmented. Its not a complete feeling. My own style of paintings
bears different sizes of panels, as a function of certain never-ending
sensibilities. These fragmented painting panels depict different
mood of emotions, experiences and dreams. They invoke a
completely different affect of meditative stillness because its
narrative runs through not only horizontal or vertical axis, but also
relates to every direction of the multi-perspective space
arrangement. The dimension of the space designates different
length of emotions, like a tiny experience I paint on narrow panel
whereas for the absolute or infinite experience; I invoke a larger
space by playing with the scale of images. Through my window,
every day I notice the blessings of the nature (birds, flowers, trees
and plants etc.), while perceiving those, I get inspired and
document them. It often brings out a poetic vision. It is as if I can
cross a thousand miles through the vista opened by the window.
Each and every mile contains a shifting window. When I look
through the window, every glance opens up an experience. So,
when Ill paint during the period of residency, window becomes a
metaphor for a larger vision as well as an actual window which is a
universal architectural feature. This double sense of the window will
inform my use of silk panels taking different shapes. Window is
the common phenomenon all over the world. Even if each country
over centuries has device its own style of a window, it remains an
eternal source of light, air and atmosphere. For me, the light here
stands for knowledge and wisdom.