Mystical thrill a spiritual journey
Dumisani Ncube | Friday July 31, 2015 12:24
The Indian artist recently exhibited the artwork under the theme, ‘Mystical Thrill’, at Thapong visual arts centre in Gaborone.
The exhibition boasted of 28 art works that reflected his spiritual journey.
The arts works comprise of paintings that were painted on mirrors and glasses. They depict the physical and psychological processes that one goes through during a Yoga session.
The physical part shows the different Yoga positions and impact they do on the body while the psychological part depicts what goes on in a Yogi’s mind. Gopal Jayaraman explained these artworks:
“Prior working on these I had to undergo a Yoga experience, all these peaces are depictions of what I went through.”
The main artwork on display was the main one that was named after the whole project Mystic Thrill. It shows a purple man seated with his legs crossed in a Yoga position meditating. With other human features surrounding him.
Jayaraman, who is an art teacher at the Molepolole college of Education, explained that the painting, which was done on a mirror, has different colors like white, purple, gold, red and blue, which shows the impact done by Yoga in a human’s body.
“The focal point depicts the internal expression of yogis while the remaining area communicates the external expression. Transparent sheets reflection on the mirrors are used to show anxiety during Kundalini awakening Yoga,” he said.
The artist also stated that during the practice he experienced some physical and psychological impacts that gave him pain and pleasure in different parts of his body and mind.
He explained the significance of using mirrors saying, “the mirror is considered the symbol of wisdom and knowledge, they reflect the Yogi’s action and this transfer to the viewer making them part of the artwork”.
There is another art he did of a masculine horse running through a solid object with huge hands behind it, the artwork is titled the Spiritual Journey. He says the huge drawing represents the transformation from humanity to divinity. The drawing is composed from various Yogic positions.
The horse, according to Jayaraman, symbolises the mind, which has to be controlled through meditation to achieve omnipotent.
“The Spiritual Journey drawing is a complete process of Yogic spiritual ride to reach higher state of conscious mind or secret knowledge,” he said. Some of the paintings were immediately bought on the opening day of the exhibition and ranged from P 5,000 to P 15,000.
Jayaraman, who was born in southern India, has previously worked on a Kalanga and Hindu ancestry worship artwork.
He has vast experience in visual arts such as conversation of historic wall paintings, Temple paintings and other fresco paintings. Jayaraman has showcased his works in Europe, Asia and Africa.