Om - My first artwork

This was an attempt that I made for my friend Tobias Kudla as a parting gift. It happened on 27th of September, 2007. I had not got it framed so that it would have been convenient for him to carry. He was a true friend and remains one even now. He got the painting framed and it adorns his wall in Germany.

The following is an effort to decipher the painting:

Life in unison. The communication between the souls of the opposites. The shape of each soul is not incidental, rather intentional. The female form has a slender, and slightly more flexible, curvy shape, which lends feminity to it. It is accentuated even more by the choice of colour. The subtle nature of the orange and yellow combines to give a calm yet distinct feminine essence to the shape, that coils and curls around the more rigid and bold masculine form. The bluish tone to the male counterpart provides depth and at the same time, a colour in contrast and also in complement to the orange companion. The togetherness of the two forms is elevated by the presence of ‘OM’ symbols floating around and gaining footage and alliance to the resonating figures in the centre of the painting. The red background symbolises blood, - something which is at the source of all existence and is the substance within all forms of nature and beyond its realms to provide the environment for successful coupling of the two poles that signify life. ‘OM’ is simply a darker shade of the background, since its presence is non-refutable and does not need the figures to exist. Its relevance is in its unity with the environment, which it is a part of and probably the core of it too. ‘OM’ becomes recognisable in its spirit and form, once the resonance of the feeling and communication of the figures in proximity, increases intensity. The communion does not necessarily mean physical interaction. It is the exchange between the souls of two beings, coming together, and uniting in one, but still maintaining their individual characteristics. Individuality of the beings survives all unions, and if and when, separations. ‘OM’ figures are larger in size and bolder in presence when they come nearer to the united forms. This could also signify the realisation of the resonating (‘OM’) shapes, which magnifies their relative sizes. The existence of resonance in the surroundings is not justified by the resonance created by the joining of the two forms, rather it is omnipresent and it is only perceived better when the unison of thoughts of the two shapes allows it to be in line with the presence around it, by virtue of enhanced self-realisation.

It is also noteworthy that although all the shapes – male, female, and ‘OM’, seem to encircle and overlap each other, they do not reduce the individual’s identity, and the sanctity of ‘one’ endures and persists beyond the union.

Such a harmonious companionship is probably the sacred most state for all concerned.