Beyond Bindu by Chaitya Dhanvi Shah, Art Curator

There was a child, who use to sleep in the lap of his beloved mother and always kept looking at the red dot, the bindu on the forehead of his mother. As this child grew, at a very tender age he started reading a variety of books on tantrism and in his teenage he loved to decorate the temple for the Goddess in every puja with coloured papers creating a collage and making the beautification which looked abstract. At present, this man is highly spiritual, does lots of research on Indian cosmology and gets fascinated by the mysterious elements in the nature. Re-introducing Bansi Khatri.

 

Khatri prefers working at late nights as concentration plays the key role in his brainstorming. He empties the world surrounding him so that he can focus his consideration on the central image of his subject. His critical inspiration comes from the Jain manuscripts, Tantric art and Mystery in the nature. While painting he constantly dialogues with himself and his subject as he believes that what his eyes sees is just an illusion of the real image but what his mind perceives is the truth for him. His works are his own inner experience and association with the mysteries of nature and incorporating the elements form tantrism from various Indian scriptures is expressed in colours, lines, space, various forms and the light. The use of the various icons and symbols clearly shows that he has constantly done lots of research, reading and traveling where he did discovery in order to expand and unlock his mind without any bias nature. Due to this he has reached his own execution and approach. To reach his goal in a painting, his ideas have to be classified to the point where the form is simple but far from simplified.

 

In his art one shall find lots of elements which depict something or the other from the Jain and Tantric manuscripts. Bindu – a point from where the source of energy is obtained. Tribhuj – a triangle with its tip downwards represents the female form and a triangle with its tip upwards represents male, Prakriti – the female energy, Purush – the male energy, shivling- idol of lord shiva. The use of male and female elements is very well projected independently as well as mutually. Other then this space, time, various kinds of typography and nature can be found in his art work.

 

Apart from other elements of his paintings, he is very much conscious of the necessity of the harmony of the colours of the structural elements of his art, which he has gradually mastered over these years. With the use of Wash Technique he paints fifteen to twenty layers of colours, which draw closer from the rich Indian palette. The yellow and orange gives the light and warmth to his composition, while green depicts the nature and its mystery. Purple, gold and silver shows the richness of Indian manuscripts. In his paintings there is a cordial relationship between geometry, space, colours and Indian aesthetics. They comprise a deep sense of mystery, privacy, extensiveness and peace packaged in a coloured space, which forces you to recall the sheer size of Jain & Indian tantric manuscripts.

 

Dealing with different perceptions in this global village, to some khatri’s art gives them positive vibes, to some it motivates to work on a goal, some take it as a religious form, other perceive as he belongs to the Raza school and some say he is progressively getting mature as an artist. While khatri himself believes that he has the long way to go till he reaches the technique, where he will use only three to four colours and leaving maximum of the canvas “white”.

 

But for me he is doing a fantastic job as an artist by preserving and portraying contemporary tantrism into a next level. He is taking forward the legacy and the prosperous culture of Indian tantrism and manuscripts to the coming generations. I wish he will continue for many years to come!!!