When art meets spirituality, creativity flows. When diplomat, poet, and artist Abhay K. was researching for his upcoming book on Nalanda University, he was introduced to the concept of ‘Shunyata’ which means ‘emptiness’. The idea of emptiness intrigued him so much that he decided to personify it on canvas.
“When I stared at the empty canvas, I had no clue what I was going to paint. I started with making a circle and filling it with paint, and it started taking a form. Each time a new form took shape on the canvas, I felt mesmerized. I started enjoying the process.”
He says in some of the circles he painted, a face-like structure appeared on its own during the process, with expressions so calm that they looked meditative.
“These paintings are visualisations of emptiness. Forms are visible when one looks at them closely but as one moves away from them, forms disappear and what remains is emptiness, a true validation of the crux of the Heart Sutra - ‘form is emptiness, emptiness is form.’ The forms that appear are mere approximations of figures familiar and unfamiliar, gods and goddesses, mortals and immortals, plants and animals. They are all transient,” he says.
The exhibition explores the Buddhist philosophy of ‘Shunyata’ or ‘Emptiness’ in which understanding emptiness becomes vital for liberation from suffering and samsara—the cycle of birth and death. He has translated it onto canvas using different colours to make circles with facial features in a meditative state.
Talking to THE WEEK he says, “I have used different colours to show the different rasas or moods. It also makes for a visual treat.” He believes in the concept of art as therapy and feels that museums and art exhibitions should be places from where people come out calmer and better.
Abhay K’s artistic journey began in 2005 in Moscow, Russia. Since then, he has exhibited his artworks in Paris, St. Petersburg, New Delhi, Brasilia and Antananarivo, some of which are in private collections across the world.
Currently, he serves as the Deputy Director General of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). In June this year, Abhay K’s art exhibition showcased 101 works by 66 contemporary Russian artists from his private collection at Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi.
The exhibition of paintings ‘Shunyata’ is on view at Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Francaise De Delhi till September 10.