Vinod's Gallery

Places shaped by Dreams: Series

vinodlaxman — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:52:12 +0000

There are certain places that feed our dreams. This is one such. A reality that lost its realism somewhere in the presence of fantasy.

Watercolour on ‘Arches Aquarelle’ 140 lbs rough grained paper

Scarlet Dreams

vinodlaxman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:29:21 +0000

Watercolour on coldpressed paper (300gsm)

It is good to be back with blogging and to exhibit my paintings after a very long while. I had missed the fun as well as serious activities and discussions in the blog world and the pull of his old habit was too much to resist that I must say I am back. Though I have made umpteen declarations to this effect several times before, I really think I am here to stay on a regular basis. I am divinely motivated..Lol! My mind is crowded with images that feed my dreams and these images have a strong bearing upon my inner consciousness, which, in one way or the other speak my own thoughts in my own voice which, ultimately paint I must!
As always my gallery is a place to view works of art for all those who love to understand, appreciate, critique, and create works of their own. It is also a place to take a stroll, sit, stretch your back and relax as the pores of your soul absorb the essence of these paintings. It is a meeting place of likeminded wandering souls like my own self. Comments are essential to any work of art, to enrich and embellish it with various points of view. After all, what is more important is what a painting does to you than what a painting is in the eyes of its creator.
Let’s see what this painting does to you.

Title : Scarlet dreams
Medium : watercolour on coldpressed paper (300 gsm)
Size : 14.5 x 21 cms

Vinod Laxman

Beautiful Face, Beautiful Mind : Ashy

vinodlaxman — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:03:17 +0000

Its been a long while. I had started feeling nostalgic about the BFB Series and how everyone liked it. Somewhere down the line things changed and yahoo 360 became unfit for serious blogging and interactions. Circumstances in each ones lives changed and so was it with mine. Work takes the front seat leaving no room for any other activity. At this juncture I happened to meet many new friends.
I met her at Orkut and even before sending invite she struck me as a girl full of energy and enthusiasm, and having a perfect face with every inch radiating warmth and energy. Even before I knew her real name ( it was her nick in the profile), I started calling her the Modern Monalisa. It was a tough task to paint her face. It took me some time to bring forth all her character on to her face. And after the final stroke was put, I was delighted at the result.
I have pleasure in introducing to you my friend Aswathy aka Ashy as she calls herself and Monalisa as I call her. She lives with her Husband in New Zealand.

New Beginings

vinodlaxman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:02:29 +0000

Perhaps this is the first time I have taken a serious look at research in Art myself. A casual chit chat with my old professor of Art History and aesthetics, one cold rainy evening last week at the Mahatma Gandhi University Guest house triggered the process. Or shall I say put me into the ‘strange loop’. It was a bizarre discussion about the deep seated meanings in the so called ‘meaninglessness of certain entities’ in modern art and literature. Something that finds its celebration in hifi science fiction works as well as in the hilariously ridiculous logic of cartoons and animated motion pictures.

On close observation these meaningless entities lie in our perception or if we are to use a more technical word the:’Cognition’. With this the conversation took a turn into the celebrated work of Douglas Hofstadter, ‘GEB: The eternal golden braid’. This book was presented to me by an old girl friend who understood my fascination for the bizarre theories connecting Science, Mathematics, Art and Literature.
Now it is up to me to go on a quest to collect and theoretically organize all the fascinating observation I have made in Post Modern Art and Literature. This quest will also make new leads to find the strange loops that are meaningfully placed everywhere- in Art, Literature, Philosophy, Music, Science, The Universe, and in Life!

This will be my Quest for the next few year

The Portrait of Amma, The Hugging Saint, The Divine Spiritual Master.

vinodlaxman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:06:03 +0000

Presentation of the portrait to Amma on 18-04-2009.

_______________________________________
For more info on Amma, the Hugging saint : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Amritanandamayi

http://www.amma.org/

http://www.amma-europe.org/

______________________________________________

Title: Amma
Medium : Watercolour on Hotpressed paper
Size: 7′ x 5′

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Absence : Pablo Neruda

vinodlaxman — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:38:35 +0000

Absence
~ Pablo Neruda

I have scarcely left you
when you go in me, crystalline,
or trembling,
or uneasy, wounded by me
or overwhelmed with love, as when your eyes
close upon the gift of life
that without cease I give you.

My love,
we have found each other
thirsty and we have
drunk up all the water and the blood,
we found each other
hungry
and we bit each other
as fire bites,
leaving wounds in us.

But wait for me,
keep for me your sweetness.
I will give you too
a rose.

________________________________________________________________

Ausencia

Apenas te he dejado,
vas en mi, cristalina
o temblorosa,
o inquieta, herida por mi mismo
o colmada de amor, como cuando tus ojos
se cierran sobre el don de la vida
que sin cesar te entrego.

Amor mio,
nos hemos encontrado
sedientos y nos hemos
bebido toda el agua y la sangre,
nos encontramos
con hambre
y nos mordimos
como el fuego muerde,
dejandonos heridos.

Pero esperame
guardame tu dulzura.
Yo te dare tambien
una rosa.
________________________________________________________________

Watercolour on handmade paper

Model: Rashmeet

________________________________________________________________

Vinod Laxman

Mirrored image

vinodlaxman — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:59:31 +0000

I tried this style after a very long while. I’m not particularly fond of this because it requires a hell lot of calculations, and believe me, a minute seemingly insignificant stroke placed wrongly, destroys the reflected image completely. After having wasted several sketches, this one finally came through. I didn’t have a good cylindrical mirrored reflector to capture the image without abrasion. The tiny dents and imperfections of this steel reflector have caused some distortion in the reflected image. Kindly excuse that

(model : Shruti)

Glowing Embers

vinodlaxman — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:21:27 +0000

“Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colours, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.” ~Wassily Kandinsky~

Glowing Embers

by David Harris

Within the glowing embers
of a fire going to sleep,
I see a future of happiness
born out of sadness
that had lingered too long.
The myriad tentacles of sadness
that tried to strangle happiness
are beginning to fall away
allowing the sun to rise
on a brand new life and day.
Yesterdays fears are disappearing,
replaced with future hope.
The wounds and scars of defeat
are all beginning to heal,
and all this I see in the glowing embers
of a fire going to sleep.

________________________________________________

Title: The Glowing Embers
Medium: Dry Pastels on handmade paper

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Presiding over the Doom

vinodlaxman — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:23:24 +0000

There are certain things impossible to reconcile with the settled order of nature. And when such events happen to us we are left with a suspension of disbelief, if it had been a dream or real or somewhere in-between, – a state of delirium.

I was about 14 years old and was down with a severe bout of fever. The temperature was very high, and the things I could make out then were, the attention showed by my parents, a doctor who came occasionally to check on my temperature and a lot of stories that I had read or heard happen right before my eyes. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, and was delirious. My eyes were open and I could see the things in the room faintly. Therefore my visions were as real to me as my own experiences.

I found myself in the company of my usual school mates, watching a play or a musical concert in a huge amphitheatre, which resembled my school’s auditorium. There was a break and we decided to step out and take a stroll around the theatre, as it was evening. The place was picturesque, with moors all around. On one corner was the dark swampy mire that had a semblance to the ‘Grimpen Mire’ of the stories that had formed my imagination. My friends and I shared the stories and legends associated with the place as we walked and realized that we had covered a considerable distance from the theater. We decide to return as it was getting dark. It was at this moment a chill went down my spine when, as I turned around I found the most singular thing happen. All my friends had disappeared. I was shocked. I started walking rapidly towards the theater. I started running, and to my horror, I realized that I was not just nearing my destination, but I was moving farther and farther away from it. Darkness descended as I was still struggling with my legs to reach the theatre, where I knew I would be re-united with my friends. There was thick fog all around, and my vision was getting limited in spite of the clear moonlit sky. To my utter disbelief I realized my mistake. I had lost my way and instead of going towards the theater through the short route, I was passing through the mire! I started running faster. The horror was gripping me every second. The fog had covered almost the entire place, and I couldn’t see anything around. I was lost in an ocean of mist, horrified and exhausted. Then… I heard a strange noise that shot through the chill air, ripping apart the eerie silence. It was a low but shrill howl. It was a sound I had never heard before. My blood froze in my veins. Before I could regain my senses, a few yards from me, shooting through the thick blanket of mist, I saw the most Singular sight! The creature from hell pouncing right upon me from the front. In a fraction of second, I noticed what it was. It was a huge demonic hound- the size of a horse. With large red eyes glowing against the pitch black body, it had huge fangs that gleamed horrendously against the moon light and tongue sticking out in such a manner as if the beast had been sent from hell to preside over the doom that lay bare before my very eyes.

I became unconscious again. Days went by, and I was back to my healthy self but the events remained etched in some corner of my mind. I had this dream recurring accurate to every detail and sequence of events, over and over for several years in my dream.

This is my Entry for Mina’s Halloween Festival

2008

The Kids of 360 !!!

vinodlaxman — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:56:06 +0000

“If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children; and if they will grow up in their natural innocence, we won’t have to struggle; we won’t have to pass fruitless idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which consciously or unconsciously the whole world is hungering”. ~Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)~

This part of yahoo 360 which resembled the indomitable Gauls of Asterix comic at one point of time need some magic portion now. Its not so difficult..all we need is to assemble here like we did while we were kids. Remember how difficult it was for the photographer to get us all together for the group photo? He had to go back and forth several years in time and space to do it. We were all scattered in space and time. Yet we did it…we howled, screamed, danced and reveled in celebration for almost all events. We threw cakes ate each other; we doped innocent soft drinks to get the teetotalers drunk, to their own disbelief! We got drunk ourselves, we spoke philosophy, we sang songs, we delivered speeches that took the world by storm (ahem * clearing throat*) We hugged and cried each time a friend left us. We prayed for their well being. These were the best days of our lives in Yahoo!360. We miss the fun and joy now. One way to revive the fun is to become children again. To go back to the days when we had 7 million wonders when the grownups had only 7 wonders in the world.

The Game: 17 friends from my list (a couple of them left 360 deleting their accounts, but were once part of this wonderland during the hay days of 360. Their presence can never be forgotten) have their kid pictures along with their current ones. You have to match them. It is not a very difficult task, but I found it quite amusing to note how some faces have changed and how some have not!!! What is that factor that enables us to match the pictures correctly? Is it the facial anatomy, hair pattern and style, or is it the expression which we have been having without undergoing much change right from our childhood? These are points to Ponder! It will be so nice to get your opinions, and inputs about your experience while observing these pictures.

Now for The Grown- Ups

I sincerely thank all these 17 friends who supplied me with their pictures. I must acknowledge that this blog wouldn’t have been possible without their contribution.

My thanks also to each and everyone who visits this page and join the fun.

Vinod Laxman

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