My journey in life has been woven with art and spirituality from early on. Since I’m still very much a novice in the art world, what I will share here is the story of my journey through art and spirituality. I hope my story interests you and resonates with you, the reader.
I have always been interested in drawing and creative media since childhood. I also had interest in mythologies around the world but was drawn to the myths of India. I was also fascinated by the ancient sculptures, wall art and temple architectures of my home state of Kerala in southern India. As I recall back, whenever I went for vacations to Kerala, I had a special resonance with the local shrines, often built in green spaces, which were dedicated to local, often feminine or animal spirits. There was something special about these archaic places where I felt the presence of the soul of humanity, nature and an ancestral spirit. These had started to influence my art from a long time back.
My spiritual interest began about two decades ago as I started to have questions about the nature of reality and the self and started reading books on the subject. Again, I was drawn to Eastern, especially Indian concepts of spirituality like Atman/Brahman of Vedanta and the Upanishads. It took me a long time to grasp such concepts practically through meditation and similar practices, and I am still walking on that path. I recall that until my thirties, when I tried to get in touch with the deeper Self beyond the ego, I felt like I was going insane, and would stop myself in the process. Then after being a father of my children, I was suddenly able to penetrate that barrier and be in the presence of the deeper Self for longer periods of time. Similarly, though various stages of my life I hit barriers, and some shifts allowed those doors to be opened.
As I mentioned, as my art and spirituality have been on an interwoven course, the focus of my art has been the iconography and symbols from the myths of India. Kerala has many traditional art forms like painting, decorating and dance which depict mythical deities in an exotic, esoteric and mystical aesthetic. I was drawn to these art forms, and even though I never got a chance to study them professionally, my art has been inspired by them. A rather well known style from Kerala is the mural painting, traditionally done in temple walls as frescos, but has had a contemporary revival amongst decorative painters. Many of my older art pieces were inspired by this style. Due to life circumstances pulling me in a different direction, I took almost a decade of break from serious commitment to art.
Recently I’ve been called back to it, and have been more inspired by the older, more tribal and animist art styles from Kerala. These include floor paintings with natural pigments that are done as part of certain rituals, and the iconography is more primitive, often depicting goddesses of local energy, but who are collectively part of the unified feminine aspect of the Hindu cosmology (which perhaps entered India at a later phase in history). My latest work “Bhagavathi” is inspired from this style, and I hope to make more.
I believe each of us is the eternal observer wearing the mask of ego and playing its role, to contribute what we can to the story of the universe unfolding. I hope to contribute my small part in the form of my ongoing journey of art and spirituality.
Sandeep Chandran
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