The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

Aristotle

The more I think about art, the more I feel that Aristotle was right, and yet, what is called art often does not reach its goal. I couldn’t say mine does either, but I know that an image is born in my mind through subconscious churning of thoughts and feelings. My paintings don’t evolve on the canvas – they are born fully formed, like Krishna Dwaipayana Vedvyasa. I like to think of my paintings as my manasputras. I don’t construct, deconstruct, reconstruct them, I accept them with gratitude.

When I paint, I don’t try to solve the problems of the world. I can’t. I am not made for it. I don’t even try to illustrate the society as it is – my paintings don’t have a message. I just accept the image that I see in a flash, and I try to capture it in its entirety. Without adding or deleting anything, and at such moments I feel grateful for the skill that helps me capture these images.

If I didn’t paint them, some of these images could wreak havoc inside my mind. An image that I painted as a series of four paintings made me feel lighter and brighter – they became my own silent scream. I think, art isn’t born with an aim but we see in it, an aim, a reason to be. The reason for art to be is to let the artist be, and let the art-lover look into the soul of its creator. A connection is formed, and the quakes that rumble inside the artist’s heart are then felt by those who see her art.

 

About the Image: A small rectangle (about 6″x 4″) from my Quadtych. Title: “Re…” Dimensions: 4 x (1.5 ft x 3 ft.) Medium: Oil,  Artist: Shafali R. Anand