Tapping the Marvellous

Derek Philip Monteiro is a friend of Sharat's. An artist, who frquently holds exhibitions in Mumbai. He sent sent me this piece which I thought I would share with you:

I’m constantly being asked to explain my paintings, etc.  Quite honestly I don’t know what to say or where to begin?

What is my Philosophy?  I KAN’T Say – I DON’T THINK, therefore I AM ... and  everything turns out just fine.   What do I believe?  I believe a picture should speak a thousand words and that elephants should fly, gold fish should tap dance and that the moon is a rolled up bear!  DON’T DISTURB HIM by landing on his tummy at noon.

ART?  Is experience!  A painting has to be experienced.  My concerns are ONLY PICTORIAL.  That means that I’m least concerned about subject matter, slickness, ideographical, ideological or conceptual approaches i.e. ART is NOT illustration, story-telling NOR message-giving NOR based on ideas or CONCEPTS. NOR based on VISUAL, OPTICAL TITULATION OR TEXTURE TECHNIQUES!

ART is a language to express the Intangible…. Line, form, colour are the elements as any 5 watt Tubelight will tell you… All the elements coming together, creating an illusion of space on a 2-D surface.  The goal?  An aesthetic experience!   HOW MARVELLOUS!!  Andre Breton (who is this surrealistic dude?)  loved this word MARVELLOUS - I liked the sound of it, too, so I use it to explain the SOURCE from where I ABSTRACT (draw all my inspiration & perspiration ) FROM ...

ARTISTS (from my MULTI-PERSPECTIVE point of view) are NOT CREATORS only Stenographers -   taking down what they receive and conveying it, hopefully effectively!!!

What is all this NONSENSE, I’m talking .… Silly, absurd, illogical titles are what I give my paintings.  One has to feed the intellect (the monkey mind) some bananas to divert it, keep it on hold or occupy it and thus the child within all of us is set free to enjoy and experience a painting!  I must admit that the reason, I title my paintings so absurdly, is because I’m annoyed! - I didn’t get 2 Litres of sunshine, this monsoon.  The rationing officer just smiled…  Help yourself, to all the rice, sugar and toilet paper, u need  - it’s FREE! …. BUT SUNLIGHT?... that’s gonna cost u! We’ve already sold the RAINBOW to a rich beggar down the street. 
What MARVELLOUS NONSENSE!!!

THAT’S ALL!!  Did I forget anything?  See?  I tried my best to explain myself.  Here I must confess that all the ALPHABET soup, I happily ingested as a child (I wanted an education)  helped me pick up a few letters here and there ...  Many slipped away!!!! All the ZZZ’s too even though I was trying to sleep!  WHO is this guy PAUL KLEE?  Fortunately the DNA micro camera implanted in my ...  (I’m too embarassed to disclose the location) recorded all the words and sentences INTACT as they happily passed by ...

“The heart that beat for this world has been almost extinguished in me.  It is as though my bond with these things were memory…. One relinquishes this world and builds into a region beyond, a region which can be all affirmation."

Comments

[Dwight]

Thanks! What a wonderful article to wake up to on this mysterious morning in Toronto....

[suresh]

The Marvellous wonder lies yonder… On what plane, who doest know? Thanks.

[Sudha]

Like to hear more about your mysterious morning, Dwight. I often wonder what your life is like, out there. S