File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_1998/postcolonial.9805, message 254


From: Ayelet Zohar <ayelet.zohar-AT-ipc.co.il>
Subject: Re: Anish Kapoor 
Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 21:53:19 GMT


 Dear Tim!

>Any references on abstraction in traditional indian art?

Well, as you know Indian Art has few lines of development - Brahmin, 
Buddhist, Jain, Hindu and so on. My argument says that Brahmin Art has
super-natural descriptions and beyond-human figurations - Gods and
Goddesses
 are usually described in a manner of "beyond the natural" - multi-headed
d, many hands, and God-powers described in powerful attributes such as 
conchs, pitchforks, lotus flowers etc. The desire to describe the Divine
 and Ultra-powers has led at last, to more abstract descriptions, that 
 naturally, are beyond our daily experience and empirical knowledge. The
Go d that was chosen to be described in this way is Shiva - the
Destructor,
 the God of Rebirth. There are descriptions of Shiva only by his foot-
 prints (as a matter of fact, this kind of description is already
present i n early Buddhist memorials of the Great Teacher - Shakyamuni
[Buddha in  his human fashion], that refer to him as the Supreme
Knowledge, the Enlightened - Tathagata - the one that comes and goes,
that is and was - and
 so, the representation by foot-prints had this dimension of "is/was and
 present/gone").I think that representing a being only by its foot-prints
 has wonderful enigmatic, abstract [non-]present value.
The other version that is more relevant to our discussion of AK's works 
is the Shiva Lingam - the God Shiva being represented by his phallus, 
usually a piece of stone carved to a strait column with round head,
placed  in a Yuni - the female sexual organ - described as a flat piece
of stone
 with a narrow canal around it. Sometimes the Lingam will be  a large 
 natural stone, and sometimes the Yuni will be represented as round or
square piece with a small cone (vagina?) leading out. The function of the
small canal carved on the surface of the Yuni is to carry the water or
other liquids that people throw over the statue while praying or paying
homages to the Lingam. The other way of paying homage and tributes is
by throwing red or yellow pigment powders over the Lingam. Shiva Lingams
are  scattered all over India in Temples, on small shrines and even on
street corners. The rituals of Shiva are very popular in India, and you
can find them everywhere. And so, AK's adaptation of the pigment-powders
over  abstract sculptures has deep references in the place he comes from.
The way he had combined these rituals and religious materials into Modern
Art  forms is brilliant - and so he deserves every kind of applause. 

>seems, at least from the way the discussion has emerged thus far, that
>Kapoor has a real problematic relationship with a number of traditions.
 
I would like to think that all traditions and religions come to the 
bottom line of the "Sublime" "Abstract" "beyond Human" and although the
way  may be multi-curved with many figurative discriptions, the bottom
line will always be the desire to describe that "something" which is
beyond our daily grasp. And so, you can find abstract description in
every tradition - either by low (Judaism, Islam) or as an option
(Buddhism, Christia nity, Hindu etc.) 

>Any thoughts on a possible connection between the work Bhabha has on 
his >cover and the content of that same book? 

Well, as for I have not read the whole book, but have some idea about 
its contents - I believe selecting one of AK's deepest works, one of his
more abstract and loaded works that carries the value of deep experience
and thought can be of a proof for the idea that images, subject-matter
in art  rotate between cultures and traditions and cannot be related to
only one tradition or place.As I have described before the relation I
see  between AK's work and traditional Indian Art - still, the
appreciation of his work is generally speaking in the Western world,
where most people are probably not aware of his roots, but still can
enjoy and feel the v alue of these pieces, regardless of their location.
In short, ideas move
 around and get deferent shapes and colors, and it is impossible to lo
cate a culture and say it is only here or there - it moves affects, refl
ects, and being affected and reflected.

Best Wishes,

ai 




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