Magical, mystical meaning of symbols

The play between consciousness and unconsciousness, the magical yet mystical meaning of symbols and above all the presence of the invisible, always draw artist Neha Sharma’s attention.

Her latest exhibition ‘Sacred Geometries’ is an example of what intrigues her the most. Keeping in mind this longing for the unseen spiritual, Sharma has titled her work as ‘Green’.

“I feel deeply drawn towards certain anthropological concerns and questions. Also, towards stupa and linga which are timeless and pure forms  of energy into which flow everyday life, imagination and senses to an infinite level. I wish as a painter to explore moments and forms wherein life and non-life, visible and invisible, ritual and infinity come together,” Sharma tells Metrolife.

In recent years Sharma’s preoccupation as an artist has been within the margins of the real and imagined.

“To be on these fluid margins is to seek fleeting moments of intimacy between the visionary and non-visionary, subjective and the objective in and of life. It brings into question in enigmatic ways, the so-called logical existence and the whole structure of oppositions, scientific and non-rational, fiction and reality, conscious and unconscious, life and non-life,” she says.

For Sharma painting is a journey where one has to dwell with certain concerns. Therefore, her search is always for ways and forms that touch upon the basic-principles of life. “Within the lines and mesh structures I draw, are inspired by my surroundings and me,” says the artist, who is the laureate of Higher Institute of Fine Arts,
Ghent, Belgium.

Talking about Sacred Geometries, she says, “These are the signs I perceive from my understanding of the invisible. To this is attached coincidence of colours, which has the power to create and recreate. Hence, the sense of my work is something that is felt in dreams and certain fleeting moments of wakefulness. I seek in my visual elements the paradoxes of human beliefs, longings, wandering and return, divisions, identity and a feeling for the universe.

The exhibition is on view till today at India International Centre, Lodhi Estate, from 10 am to 7 pm.