G.B. - How long have you lived in Europe? Since when have you been in Vienna?

P.C. - I came to England in 1957 and moved to Vienna in 1962.
G.B. - Training in India?Any differences between training in India and Europe?

P.C. - My training in art began in a traditional manner with my father who himself was a political caricaturist and a graphic artist. I learned the art of printing in the publishing house that belonged to my parents. In my youth there prevailed a classical ine arts tradition wich was oriented towards the British School of Art. Later i studied at the St. Martin ‘s School of Art and under Evelyn Morgan and Ruth Liebermann in Hampstead.

G.B. - Location in Vienna – significance of the house / workshop.

P.C. - My parents printing press occupies a very significant place in my memory. That is where i spent my childhood and learned the daily rituals. On festival days we worshipped the machines and the tools by painting them with religious symbols. By choos- ing this abandoned press as my workshop i am able to recreate those times and bring back memories of the traditional rituals that have been handed down to us.

G.B. - Incorporation of the signs of life in a house that is occupied and the one that has been abandoned.

P.C. - Like the ancient Greek philosophy, Hinduism also belives that everything has a soul. One of the essential tasks in perceiv- ing and understanding the universe is therefore finding the signs of life everywhere. It is just not human being alone, but also pets, trees, lakes and even our houses have a soul. A house has a soul ans would like to be decorated even when it is old.

G.B. - The relationship betwen painting and sculpture.

P.C. - Painting and sculpture are not separate from each other but flow into each other. A sculpture wich can’t be touched and is only visible from a distance could be flat.Pictures that can be felt and touched are sculptures.

G.B. -The incorporation or integration of daily objects – with ref- ference to India – apparently no difference between the useful and the disposable.

P.C. - In our tradition the purpose of painting an object is to underline the divinity that lies within it irrespective of its utility value which in any case is a purely subjective matter.

G.B. - Tantric roots? Since when is this preoccupation with Tan- tra? Is it mainly theoretical or is it merely intuitive?

P.C. - I grew up in a society in which Tantric symbols were a part of daily life. Hence the question of theory or intuition never arose.
G.B. - How long have you lived in Europe? Since when have you been in Vienna?

P.C. - I came to England in 1957 and moved to Vienna in 1962.

G.B. - Training in India?Any differences between training in India and Europe?

P.C. - My training in art began in a traditional manner with my father who himself was a political caricaturist and a graphic artist. I learned the art of printing in the publishing house that belonged to my parents. In my youth there prevailed a classical ine arts tradition wich was oriented towards the British School of Art. Later i studied at the St. Martin ‘s School of Art and under Evelyn Morgan and Ruth Liebermann in Hampstead.

G.B. - Location in Vienna – significance of the house / workshop.

P.C. - My parents printing press occupies a very significant place in my memory. That is where i spent my childhood and learned the daily rituals. On festival days we worshipped the machines and the tools by painting them with religious symbols. By choos- ing this abandoned press as my workshop i am able to recreate those times and bring back memories of the traditional rituals that have been handed down to us.

G.B. - Incorporation of the signs of life in a house that is occupied and the one that has been abandoned.

P.C. - Like the ancient Greek philosophy, Hinduism also belives that everything has a soul. One of the essential tasks in perceiv- ing and understanding the universe is therefore finding the signs of life everywhere. It is just not human being alone, but also pets, trees, lakes and even our houses have a soul. A house has a soul ans would like to be decorated even when it is old.

G.B. - The relationship betwen painting and sculpture.

P.C. - Painting and sculpture are not separate from each other but flow into each other. A sculpture wich can’t be touched and is only visible from a distance could be flat.Pictures that can be felt and touched are sculptures.

G.B. -The incorporation or integration of daily objects – with ref- ference to India – apparently no difference between the useful and the disposable.

P.C. - In our tradition the purpose of painting an object is to underline the divinity that lies within it irrespective of its utility value which in any case is a purely subjective matter.

G.B. - Tantric roots? Since when is this preoccupation with Tan- tra? Is it mainly theoretical or is it merely intuitive?

P.C. - I grew up in a society in which Tantric symbols were a part of daily life. Hence the question of theory or intuition never arose.

G.B. - When did the European influence recede to the background
and when did India get the upper hand? Is it because of an inward return to the roots or because the West is drawing closer to Indian philosophy? P.C. - Like all artists who came to London in the 50’s, i too wG.B. - When did the European influence recede to the background aand when did India get the upper hand? Is it because of an inward return to the roots or because the West is drawing closer to Indian philosophy?

P.C. - Like all artists who came to London in the 50’s, i too was influenced by European art. Although i used a Western style, my expression was always symbolic. Over the years i became more direct and even went to the extent of painting only with my hands. By applying the colours with my bare hands, by this intimate touch i breathed life into my pictures.

G.B. - Why an exibition in Wittgenstein House? What significance does Wittgenstein have?

P.C. - The Wittgenstein House is the manifestation of the preci- sion of the European intellect wich is diametrically opposite to my stance wich goes beyond the plane of reason. In the sheer cool rooms the inner life of my works emerges in a more relevant man- ner.

G.B. - The importance of order, geometrical forms.

P.C. - In Indian culture geometrical symbols are used in daily life as well as in religious ceremonies. Hence it is only natural that i use this language of forms.

G.B. - Is there uniformity in your painting or are there two souls?

P.C. - My work is an extention of myself. Whenever i take two points of view they are reflected in a contrasting manner in my work.

G.B. - Material, surface – canvas etc.(why).

P.C. - I do not stick to just one material. I use any surface or any object which catches my fancy.

G.B. - The significance of hands on the wall, the use of impres- sions (casts) as friezes?

P.C. - The impressions of my hands leavebehind traces of myself, potray me in my absence; they allow my spirit to linger in my work. The more i leave my impressions behind, the stronger my spirit.

G.B. - Format? Small pictures, icons?

P.C. - Since i work on the inner meaning of objects, standards and yardsticks are alien to me. Every piece has a different inner life.

G.B. - The exibition will be showing your works horizontally on tables. Does it have anything to do with ritualistic arrangement, with eating?

P.C. - Rektor Pruschas’s idea of the horizontal is the logical form of presenting works painted on the ground.

G.B. - What is seen as the central, the most important characteris- tic of Cherkoori’s art?

P.C. - Everything has prana (consciousness). The goal of my work is to reveal this.as influenced by European art. Although i used a Western style, my expression was always symbolic. Over the years i became more direct and even went to the extent of painting only with my hands. By applying the colours with my bare hands, by this intimate touch i breathed life into my pictures.

G.B. - Why an exibition in Wittgenstein House? What signifi- cance does Wittgenstein have? P.C. - The Wittgenstein House is the manifestation of the preci- sion of the European intellect wich is diametrically opposite to my stance wich goes beyond the plane of reason. In the sheer cool rooms the inner life of my works emerges in a more relevant man- ner.

G.B. - The importance of order, geometrical forms.

P.C. - In Indian culture geometrical symbols are used in daily life as well as in religious ceremonies. Hence it is only natural that i use this language of forms.

G.B. - Is there uniformity in your painting or are there two souls?

P.C. - My work is an extention of myself. Whenever i take two points of view they are reflected in a contrasting manner in my work.

G.B. - Material, surface – canvas etc.(why).

P.C. - I do not stick to just one material. I use any surface or any object which catches my fancy.

G.B. - The significance of hands on the wall, the use of impres- sions (casts) as friezes?

P.C. - The impressions of my hands leavebehind traces of myself, potray me in my absence; they allow my spirit to linger in my work. The more i leave my impressions behind, the stronger my spirit.

G.B. - Format? Small pictures, icons?

P.C. - Since i work on the inner meaning of objects, standards and yardsticks are alien to me. Every piece has a different inner life.

G.B. - The exibition will be showing your works horizontally on tables. Does it have anything to do with ritualistic arrangement, with eating?

P.C. - Rektor Pruschas’s idea of the horizontal is the logical form of presenting works painted on the ground.

G.B. - What is seen as the central, the most important characteris- tic of Cherkoori’s art?

P.C. - Everything has prana (consciousness). The goal of my work is to reveal this.

Pravin Cherkoori exibited a selection of his artistic works executed to date. One observes the absence of objects, the austere choice of colours and the simplicity of basic materials throughout. Packing paper, cheap canvas, remains of used household ustensils, floor covering and pages from manuscripts are all used in his artistic creations. Among these are works in small format as well as works composed of different objects, begining with the individual pieces lying on the ground and leading to wall paintings.

Perhaps the plainness, simplicity and indigence of the chosen materials and medium indicate a puzzle with reference to their significance as well as to the past and the present tendencies of the artist. According to what the artist told me, there is hardly a complete work in his collection. From time to time he is inspired to change, add and extend the work. The artistic process lies in becoming, changing and never in being closed or complete.

Mr. Cherkoori is Indian but has been living in Vienna for decades. He had his training in art in London and was also associated with Otto Mauer. The polarity betweenthe abstract tendencies of European painting and the meditative strenght of his native Indian thought are the basis of his artistic creations. This is a very rare phenomenon which gives Parvin Cherkoori's art a special style.

Art and Philosophy, art and religion – the question of the connection between formal creation and the inner relatedness of every work of art is inherent, hence the pull towards an area where one does not find an object or a theme to portray. In the twentieh century the absence of objects has occupied a dominant position. It is also characteristic of the times that those painters who practised abstract painting also expressed themselves in writing about their works or generally formulated their program: Kandinsky and Malewitsch in the beginning and Tapies, Barnett, Newman and many others at a later point of time. The connection of thought and the tendencies which lay at the foundation of a resolution demand a corresponding confession of the artist. Undoubtedly more generalised statements emerge from those pictures where there is a renunciation or abandonment of objects that form those where the theme is a person, a scene or a land- scape. In this tendency to set free feelings and emotions, to make presentations of unlimited time and space, make the incompre- hensible visible, this art frees itself not only from the bindings of personal art but from the cultural circles which for centuries had determined cultural tendencies. Perhaps the most fantastic and significant contribution of the artists of the twentieth century for the future has been to arrive at these solutions which have made identical artistic statements and hence also a general artistic language possible. This artistic vision is today the common property of all world cultures, from Japan to America, from Europe to Africa. Only the abstract art offers the possibillity of creative production stemming from different spiritual assumptions. Looked at from this point of view, it is perhaps for the first time that one finds in abstract art the basis for a culture in which all the peoples of the world have an equal share.

On this basis Pravin Cherkoori finds the medium to express his meditative paintings which have been influenced by the Indian religious stand in a very versatile manner. For the artist painting itself is a spiritual act. This is demonstrated by the fact that the object is not always percived as the ultimate, as an end in itself, but something that can be extended and changed because of changing spiritual situations. Simple and repetitive motifs, a series of dots, impressions of the artist's hands emerge in Pravin Cherkoori's objects just as the rhythmic repetition of words plays an important part in meditation in Asian religions. The impression of the artist's hands: Mr. Cherkoori applies the colors with his bare hands without the help of tools – without a paintbrush or a spatula. Apparently this is not because of any technical considerations but because of the spiritual atitude of the artist. It is a special relationship between the intimate living touch of the artist and the dead matter which thereby experiences a change. It becomes a part of the work of art, becomes something living and finaly something sublime – thus a doormat or a floor covering becomes something which is part of a spiritual or religious statement.

For Pravin Cherkoori painting itself is a spiritual act. The divine strengths of acting and receiving, of action and of passive acceptance (according to the Indian perception) are inherant and recognisable. The works o Pravin Cherkoori radiate an effect which does not lie merely in aesthetic sensibility. They bring about an active meditative participation in th viewer and in this sense they are alive althought they ultimately also remain enigmatic.

Indian tradition tells us that, all we can ever know, feel or experi- ence comes from inside us: in a way, in a radical way, each of us makes his or her own world. Obviously this making is not under the control of our ordinary human will. If it were, everyone would make his own paradise, and no one would ever suffer.( Philip Rawson: Tantra).

Pravin Cherkori left his country, India, as a twenty year old, studied in England and has been living in Vienna for over thirty years. And yet his roots remain unchanged and are deeply embeded in the ancient Indian art and culture. His work is influ- enced by his study in Europe but the strenght of the symbols and the essence of his country remain intact. It is fascinating to meet an artist who lives and creates between two worlds, does not bend to the dictates of fashion, goes his own way – a fact which reveals itself in his character as well as his place of work. The creative chaos as well as the terrible state of his workshop leave a lasting impression and also make one ponder. Twentieth century art is no doubt influenced by the discovery of non-European art and it is the Revivalists who are inspired by Africa,Asia and Oceania. For example, one can’t think of the paintings of Gustav Klimt without the Asian influence and that of Pablo Picasso without the influence of Africa. Inspite of this, twentieth century art bears the European Stamp and when Paris and not New York became the centre of art it remained Euro- centric and developed conceptually and intellectually rather than its entirety. But when one speaks about twentieth century art, one must remember that the world does not consist only of Europe and New York. In catalogue of the exhibition “ Contemporary art from Africa, Asia and Latin America”(Berlin,1997), Alphons Hug says: “Irrespective of the inequalities in the fields of economics and politics, it is a definite connection between the works of Lascaux and the South African cave paintings and between primitive and industrial societies.

The loss of religious and social values and the rebelion against dependence and commissioned art gave the artist a new freedom wich they had hitherto not experienced. At the same time it also meant a new responsibility with respect to themselves and the essence of their art, which was equally unknown. The idea of “Art for Art’s sake” resulted in anarchy for a while and allowed the artists to present anything as art – whether it was the glorifica- tion of war in the futuristic Manifesto, The Bottle Dryer of Marcel Duchamp, The Orgien Mysterien Theater of Hermann Nitsch or the different installations with refrigerators and junk. Because of political persecution, scandals and far reaching misunderstand- ings, artists became outsiders, and the arbiters of art also contrib- uted to the situation, isolating the world of art and making art a secret language.

It is not a question of merely promoting popular art that is easily understood by everyone. It is just that having thrown tradition out, having lost spirituality and the ability to recognise symbols, one finds it difficult to understand art. The true meaning of art cannot be comprehended by those who look at it scientifi- cally or intellectually but only by those who are endowed with “sahrdaya”, those who appreciate it from the heart. This does not mean that there should be an overflowing of emotions but that the viewer should understand the basic mood or sentiment of a work of art. It is only than that he has an aesthetic experience which cleanses his subjective feelings and elevates them to a higher spir- itual level.

One cannot overlook the fact that in countries like Japan, China, India or in Africa there is on the one hand a juxtaposition of the European and American understanding of art and the in- numerable “isms” and styles of the twentieth century which has led to several misunderstandings, and on the other hand there is rethinking and renewed consciousness of the indigenoussources and roots. So while the traditional and the social and spiritual val- ues are no doubt recognised as the foundation, one also recognises the fact that being secluded and sticking steadfastly to tradition, in a world that has changed and shrunk because of the mass media, has as few chances of survial as the blind acceptance of European and American styles. It is worth while retaining the relevant and meaningful traditions while at the same time finding new paths which correspond to one’s personality and which recognise one’s authenticity but which are also intellectually and spiritually excit- ing and inspiring – not in form but in essence.

Pravin Cherkoori tries one such new path. He understands how to formulate or present the substance which comes from his tradition with the medium and materials of modern painting. He uses symbols which are appreciated aethestically in Europe, but being native are understood in his country. This huge subconti- nent with its many languages and cultures was, and is united by a culture and a philosophy, the essence of which is expressed in music, dance, architecture and paintings. The concept of kharma, the mysteries of life and death suffuse the daily life. The legends and the religion with its rituals and symbols are an integral part of daily life. The legends and the religion with its rituals and sym- bols are an integral part of daily life and not restricted only on fes- tivals. Meditation is not a leisure time activity but an immersion: Yoga is not gymnastics or physical exercise but a way of life. Art has an important place in such a style of living.

Pravin Cherkoori has learnt from the secrets of the Tantra, the manifestation of the Indian perception of life which encom- passes art, religion, life forms and rituals, magic, philosophy and the cosmic sexuality, that Shiva and Shakti – the male/female principle – are eternally one. One depends on the other and is conditioned by the other and in their union they are the cosmos. In Tantra everything stems from the Mother since it is from her that everything is born and it is to her that everything returns – be they galaxies, human beings, mountains, seas, plants, animals or gods. It is the indestructible energy of the universe which brings about the human, godly and cosmic evolution.

Indian art like the Indian religion stems from multiple and centuries old sources and their development has taken different directions and forms. Indian temple architecture and Indian mini- atures are well known but not so well konwnis the fact that art is not merely limited to painting and sculpture but that architecture and even dance, music and drama are intimately connected with the mysteries and principles of religion and philosophy. It is hard to imagine Indian art in all its essence, form and colour not draw- ing upon the ancient yet living tradition. This is the way Pravin Cherkoori understands himself as a traditional painter – even when his paintings are abstract, and do not have familiar themes and he is expounding Western and European thoughts. The basis is however India and his culture and he knows that he is strongly bound to the tradition of his country.

Cherkoori has built his own world in each of the rooms of the gigantic building which houses his workshop. One is a paint- ing workshop, one a sculpture workshop and one a graphic work- shop. He paints wooden planks or buckets,he builds structures with several stray pieces, a stick becomes a totem pole, even a floor becomes an object made of colours, pieces of materials, pa- per and tools. It is as if one is entering the room of a necromancer who knows how to bring about something magical from the most unlikely things. In another room papers are stacked in huge piles. Graphic work composed of a few dashes, a rectangle, a circle, an oval are stuck with turpentine on thick hanmade paper. Mandals, Yantras, numerous sheet of paper from a compelling poem, the artist’s meditation. In another room there are pictures arranged according to size, leaning against a wall as in an exhibition. They are large sized oil paintings and pastels which are painted with the hand. Even here there are signs, symbols and simple forms which have their originin Indian tradition but fortunately do not need an interpretation because of their convincing statement. These are neither impressions nor expressions that Pravin Cherkoori por- trays, but the result of meditation practised over generations. He apparently transfers his knowledge of colour, form and harmony in the spiritual world effortlessly onto his paper or his canvas. His pictures are never complete, he says and can be constantly renewed and changed. They are as much subject to change as life and the artist himself.

Cherkoori says painting for him is a process. Nothing arises in the head – everything comes from meditation and even while working. This means non-dependence on models, plans, sketches. This independence is to be understood not from the material point of view but from the spiritual one and leads from an intimate personal god to the universal and thus to total freedom and non-dependece. This enlightenment is attained only through meditation and the knowledge that everything that is “touched” by the spirit is godly or divine. Thus Cherkoori considers light and colour divine and painting becomes a religious act.

Even though Cherkoori has lived most of his life in Eu- rope, in his art is very much bound to the indian world, its laws, rules, systems, its knowledge about the secrets of energy and harmony. He belives he can recognise the spirit of religion in eve- rything – it is the “touch” which creates art out of dead material – whether it is the old written documents of the 17th century over which he paints or whether it is the colours to which he gives a form and structure with his hands on the surface of a picture. One must touch the top surface of a with fingers, follow the lines and trace the form. In this way one learns something about the secrets of painting, experiences the process of creation, feels the sensibil- ity which the painter acquires through meditation and at the same time the strenght that lies in the pictures and lends them light and spirituality.

Diamond shaped frame( Sarvotabhadra) – male and female energy.

The Indian street is the world. Even in big cities street life is a collective art of everything that there is: people, pedestrians, cycles, automobile, rickshawas, taxis, squatters, traders with small mobile shops and some who spread their wares on a piece of cloth, cows and calves which lie across the street and cows whose jaws are gradually crushed in the midle of the traffic. Thus the street is business, traffic, a rustic idyll, a place for discovering economic prosperity. It is inhabited and it is not just something through which one passes. It is actualy the destination, not merely a throughfare or a connection. Here one can go and squat and stay on along with others; one can lay claim to this holy earth since the soil beneath the street never loses its character of being part of the earth, covered with dust, cowdung, paper, small mountains of garbage. Inbetween there are any number of potholes of vari- ous dimensions, oil and colour stains, squashed over ripe fruits and discarded things. The noise on the street is orchestrated by the bells of rickshaws, the nasalhorns of the small vehicles and the singing of those hawkers who sell their wares by crying out, the continuous noise of the motors and the buzz and the music that emanates from the shops. The women who stroll in carefully “matching” clothes, the decorated vehicles, the colourful shop- boards, the colourful wares and the fruits reveal that these things apart from their tone also possess a colour which shows the colour of the inherant substance.

Owing to the presence of colour, the Indian street becomes an entry into a culutre which elevates itself from a material base to a high level of wealth of form, and as apposed to the European approach, implies a sacral origin and is therefore interested in its manifestation. The Indian world is one of entreaties and demi- entreaties, of doing, and the ordered and ritualistic intimacy with material. Above the agricultural class which has developed a sys- tem of cultivating the soil, there is the artisan\craftsman and the technician who put and fit things together. This combination of the two constitutes the arrangement of the world. The imperative of this arrangement as well as the ritualistic ordering of things encompasses everything and hence there is no distinction between the useful and the disposable which is so crassly present in the European attitude. The objects change their arrangements when they move from one area to another. Hinduism has never given up its connection to the basic of nature worship in the subtext of which lies the material leading to high levels of spirituality and which itself is the manifestation/revelation. The masterpiece lies in the manifestation/revelation, i.e.in the overcoming/mastering of rules, thereby bringing about a vision and real achievement. This work, in accordance with its substance, is a work of energy whereby the energy generates the organisational form of the mate- rial and hence lies even deeper in the material.

The sacrifice/offering is in no way smaller than an act in which a quantum of material is removed from one arrangement and invested in another. The offering/sacrifice is a place where the fluidity of the material and its capacity to be endlessly trans- formed like an artificiality or a change in a scene is located. In the offering/sacrifice, the ritualist is the master of metabolism and he creates a new dish.

In India, food is the central word for metabolism and it is also used with respect to the spiritual. Gods and human beings nurture their relationship to prepare for the next stage. In the Up- anishads it is said: “The world is a sacrificial fire Gautama. The earth is the firewood, the wind its smoke, the night its flame, the regions of the sky its coals and the area inbetween, its sparks. In this fire, the gods sacrifice rain and from this benediction comes food. Man is a sacrificial fire Gautama. Its firewood is the open mouth, the breath is its somke, the voice it its flame, the eyes its coals, the ear its sparks. In this fire the gods offer food as sacrifice and from this food comes seed. Woman is the sacrificial fire Gau- tama. Its firewood is her thigh, her hair its smoke, her modesty its flame, procreation its coals, pleasure its sparks. Man emerges from this benefaction. He is born, lives and when he dies he is taken back to the fire(of the funeral pyre)”

1. Everything is “food” for something else and everything is the basic raw material for something that can be made out of it. Naturally the actual food, the community feast and the ritualistic feeding on the ocasion of the pooja are extraordinary meaning- ful. The offering of food apears to be an extension of the idea that everything can be of use or of service to everything else therefore signifies working with material.

The one who knows this will be rich in food and an en- joyer of food( a rich person). He will be rich in progeny, cattle, Brahminical standing and rich in fame. He should not complain about food: it is a vow. The breath is food, the body is the enjoyer of food. The one who knows that food is firmly founded in food is himself firmly founded. He will be rich in food and an enjoyer of food.

2. Hinduism has never given up its connection to the material basis which characterises the fundamentals of the old matriachal or agricultural religion but has percived the possibilites it holds with the respect to art and has built on them. In a ritualistic space which recognises its task in the material formation of the world, technology and art are not precarious alternatives to Nature. Here ritualistic work means arranging material meaningfully and harnessing its energies into the intended model. Therefore, firstly technology, even the most modern technology is not only not out of bounds, but on the contrary is celebrated and even sometimes envied and marked with dots in sacred colours. Secondly, it fol- lows from the descriptive understandings of the rituals that Art is nothing but the “ceremonial” with which or in which man does whatever has been assigned to him in this world or that which is possible. In this sense art is an alchemy, and the substance that ap- pears in art constitutes the energy of the great creation.

A couple of deities is Hinduism emerge as principles of particular regions or kingdoms: it is always two that form the beginning of a story. The energy of art is similarily reproductive energy: energy as a couple Shiva and his Shakti. Shiva is the creator who dances with the world and his Shakti Parvati drives him to a certain extent. The pairs in Hindu theology reflect what is called “la differece” in French philosophy: the minimum in diversity from which enerything emerges. The pair, however, pos- sesses the holiest of things, the lingam and the yoni, which spurt seeds( semen) when they come together. This is portrayed in the Puranas, in the part where man began to think of using crooked means when after their earth-shattering wedding, Shiva and Par- vati could not control themselves.

“When Shiva returned to Parvati and began to make love to her again, the gods were frighened of the friction generated by their great love-play and they worried that it would fail to produce the son they needed, or that the son produced in this way would be a danger to the Universe. Indra sent Agni (in the form of a bird) to their bedroom and when Agni interrupted them, Parvati cursed the god’s wives to become barren as she was. Agni drunk the seed of Shiva and all the gods became pregnant with the seed. When they could bear it no longer, the seed was placed in the River Ganges who threw it into a clump of reeds. There it was taken up by the six krittikas who bathed there, and from them Skanda was born”.

3. Thus the process of creation is set in motion by two op- posing forces, from a pair: each has its own function with respect to the development and progress of the work. Production of a work takes place in the field of oscillatig forces of Shiva and Parvati, between the attacking and the accepting, between im- pulse and preservation/maturity. The lingam and the yoni become the divine tools of creation and creativity. The basic erotic trend in Hindu theology and the erotic dimension of the holy texts of Hinduism show the powerful interest which is centered on the theme of origin and creation. This interest is also spelt out in the continuum between the gods and men who are at the diaposal of a sex and hence of the energy inherent in the sex. By operating with this energy man becomes the great magician, the creator, the cooperator of the gods and also the manipulator. He draws on the material of an energetic constellation and manifests one of the un- limited possibilities on the threshhold of creation and destruction. This continuum which exists between the gods and men in their operating capacity gives rise to the high order of rituals, celebra- tions, work with material as well as a series of working, operating men. One finds this illuminating information in the Satapatha Brahmana: “ One asks: Who is higher? The one who sacrifices himself or the one who offers to the gods? To which the answer is: The one who offers himself the one who knows that his body is readied in this way and will be set on fire here. Just as the snake casts off his skin, he casts off his body. He attains the heavenly world through the chanting of holy verses, sacrificial offerings and donations. The one who offers to the gods knows that”. Here i offer to the gods and honour the gods. He is like the inferior/subordinate who brings tribute/ offerings to his superior like the Vaishya who brings tribute to the king. He does not inherit the same world as the other.

In the context of Hinduism an artist, even a contempo- rary one, can claim a different attitude from that of Christianity, Islam or post-Christian western world. As the above quotation so finely illustrates, the ritualist can allow himself a certain original and personal authority, an authority which places him on a level with the gods, without being accused of hubris or blasphemy. He does not need to conform to the pre-arranged to which, according to the other religions, he is pre-ordained. He is not merely the follower or descendant of the gods to whom he gives precedence, but also to a certain extent, their playmate. It is here that the dif- ferences between the concept of creation in Hinduism and in other religions become visible even when Christianity for example has drawn on a similar concepts of self-liberation and salvation from the teachings of ancient Greek philosophy and Gnosis. However, the secret Christianised instruc- tions of sefl-release are placed in direct opposion to the Indian poin of view. In Hinduism the main motive is not so much the despair about the imprisonment of the body from which a way of the Father of Light is to be found, but it is an eagerness to dis- cover that everything of which the big world is composedis also contained in the small things, that is in man. Man himself is the place of all places where everything can take place: all feeding, all sacrifices, wild life and ascetism, journey into and out of the world. When the journey into the world does not prove to be a source of evil, then it is neither necessary to denote it as a vindi- cation of the artist nor as the halo of an extraordinary genius, who in the wake of a successful vindication, ceases to act. He does not have to wait for inspiration which legitimises him, but can at once begin the process of creation whitin himself. In an outstanding way the celebrative and the playful aspects coincide in him, as can be seen in Cherkoori.

There is also another street in him – the togheterness of the most disparate things – colours everywhere, the sacred saf- fron-yellow, red, black, white, coloured hands, colourful finger- tips, the divine glow of material, pictures as food, likea newly consolidated manifestation. The divinity of the material reveals itself ever new and different epiphanies in his paintings and thus illustrates the fact that its being lies in change. Just as men as op- erative potential cannot exactly or completely or forever be this or that personality, but can become a lion, a tiger, a boar, an elephant or a steer, so is it with art. The accomaniment of animals with Hindu gods illustrates hown the intention of property functions as a manifestation of a definite character. The powerful Will, Shiva’s third, eye points to the emblem of which lies in the heroic. The Avatars and soon the kingdom appears, the emblem of which lies in the heroic. The accompaniament of animals also shows that there should be something in the nature of a definite figure which this self-consolidation of energy supports, regulates and puts its seal on. To me Cherkoori’s paintings appear to have a similar function. He creates himself from within, in the manner observed by Ruyer that a work of art is far less a creation of the artist – it is more his twin.

5. In this twin he makes himself in the actual self i.e.he combines the materials in such a way that he finally becomes that which is made up of all the new ingredients that have gone into the making of the twin. “He should understand himself thus: Understanding is his substance, breath is his body, brilliance his appearance, ether(space) his self. He changes according to the discretion of his character, is very soon a spirit of genuine resolution, genuine behavior, full of every smell and taste, spreading itself il all direc- tions, all fulfilling, wordless. Like a rice grain or a millet grain or a grain or a grain of the millet grain within himself the Purusha is golden like a smokeless light, bigger than all things. He, is the self of the breath, he is my Self. So says Shandilya, and that is the way it is.”

Colours, colours and more colours, with white inbetween never smoothened or empty, but more a thickness with solidified drops which show the material and substance. What glows like colour from a distance becomes opaque and impenetrable and hence be- comes the substance from close quarters. The pictures appear less as coloured surfaces and more like the condensation of the weave of a fabric with a raw upper surface.it is as if the pigments have compromised with a material which covers their qualities accord- ing to their meaning. The peculiar intensity of the top surfaces makes the pictures impenetrable and unfavourable from close quarters and pushes the viewer back to distance. The ideea has been handed that the geometric figures and symbols of the Man- dala have been assimilated in the Indian folk art where drawn in the sand and on the earth at the begining of history i.e.the beginning of human knowledge. This ancient connection of the spiritual symbolism with the material may well be translated into the intensity of the pictures and become a point of reference. The registration of the signs in the earthly elements pushes its meaning into the distance, into an unknown space-time framework.

The signs – circle, square, rectangle, even oval are often set in bright colours at the centre of a picture against a dull bor- der surface. These bright centres attract the viewer, suggest an opening, a window or a gate. But when one is in its vicinity, one percives that the apparent transparency disappears and that is actually comprises repulsive or alien strenght and thickness. The gate leads to nothingness and the viewer finds himself standing all alone and a secret being locked up before his eyes.

In the Upanishads, one of the fundamental text of Indian philosophy, ther is a parable which elucidates the Brahman, the principle of the world, the fundament of being. Uddalaka Aruni asks his son Shveteketu to bring a fig and open it. He asks , “What do you see there?” “Very fine grains seeds, answers the son.” “Open one of them. What do you see?” “Nothing father, said to him” “the fig tree is composed of the finest substance that you can perceive. This substance permeates the cosmos and that is the truth, the real thing and that is what you are, Shveteketu!”

The finest substance which permeates the cosmos, that is real, the true, this substance of which everything is composed – that is what we are. That is what the Upanishads say, “Tat tvam asi – that is you”.

The void which the essence of the universe as well of men can be rediscovered in the paintings. The dialectics of nearness and distance, the intensity of which illuminates them and the seduction which they evoke to at once take them back shows them as self-satisfied entities, as reflexive works which are selfclaming.

In the art theory of the previous century, the picture as an observer belongs to the topoi. One speaks at once either about the “inner” movement, an “energon” as Roland Barthes calls it(4) or about an inner intensity which constitutes the aestetic of a work. Intensities do not actualy belong to the artist but flow through him – as a tool or a medlium. “ We are getting rid of ownership, our poetry now is the realisation that we posses noth- ing”, says John Cage.

The astounding proximity in which the western reflections of aesthetics and the models of Indian philosophy are to be found, has its origin in the modernity and its abstraction. Hence it is not merely the spiritual character of the earlier abstraction of a definition which accentuates the “cerebral” as the aesthetic aspect. It is much more the uninsured content in which the new autonomous art began to develop and which always allowed new philosophical interpretations and safeguards to emerge. Even at the begining of the modern era, the potential of art was percived as a philosophical possibility. Cezane wrote: “We see in the paintings everything that man has seen. Everything that we wanted to see. We are all the same man.”

And Beat Wyss comments from the modern viewpoint: “ In a successful work, one sees the view from the artist’s eyes crossed with the world-eye, that organ in which the will has cre- ated its first impressions of self-knowledge. This “world-eye” which seeks to give a mentality and a principle to the modernity in art seems to be valid for this work too. The contrast of the bright and dark, the abstract language of form and its centralisation of the picture are the immediate and external strategies to bring about visibility and the hermetic qual- ity, and the background of the pictures demands a “second” look, a look which is a special and “visionary”privilege, which is a perception and a recognition.

The modern formula of aesthetics shows a proximity to another metaphysical viewing. In the visual perception of art, the indivdual subjects reduce themselves to a single to a single transcendental universal perception. The aesthetic unveils the potential for meditation, reflec- tion and recognition and thus the idea of a transcendence, of “being out of world”.

The postmodern philosophy underlines the stance of the modern by bringing in concepts like intensity, energy, desire and also sublimation, in discussions about aesthetics. The theory of aesthetics attributes an exemplary status to a work of art in the sense of a fortunate moment or coincidence. “In this partisanship for the improbability of a work of art, the modern post-meth- aphysical world continues the metaphysical revolt against trivial- ity with other material. It looks for freedom from reality through creative change”.

The peace and calm of self-relatedness in the works of Pravi Cherkoori suggest such a “being out of the world”, their im- penetrable reality supports this semantism even when the cromat- ics seem to belong to this side of the world ,i.e.the western world, and the abstract language of form is culturally familiar and acces- sible. In addition to the enigma and contradiction of the pictures, there is also the fact that the earthly material seems to set up a blockade, a wepon against an easy acces to the aesthetic core and to a complete understanding and interpretation, and thus unex- pectedly allows something alien and unfathomable to emerge.

This metaphysically coloured concept of “being out of the world”, which corresponds to the contemporary disposition of aesthetics can also be read as a poetic of Moksha, the brahmanical deliverence and salvation of man which marks the end of his return to life(i.e.rebirth). The silence of thought which radiates through his pictures, the emptiness, which when viewed seems to open up, the distance(remoteness) which they acquire for themselves – all these make them the objectification of meditative calm, signs of self-forgetfulness, and the signatures of self-dissolutin i.e.detachment.

The silence of thought provides a possibility for closing the breach between man and the world, refers to a synthesis of truth and being which formally testifies to the “tat tvam asi” and gives a pre-taste of salvation or enlightenment. The Indian philos- ophy combines the way to salvation intimately and directly with practice, with earthly practice of life and physical “being in the world” .

This knowledge is coveyed by the pictures with their eart- thly prsence and their material relatedness which can also be the logogram or shortform of “materia prima”. Their visibilityis the metaphor for hidden – or perhaps of the way to salvation – their physical strenght holds the metaphysical possibility. When there is no more I versus world polarity, the duality of the showing and the shown ceases to exist. Therefore the situation of the enlight- ened is in no way beyond the world; it is only in the world that there is unworldliness.

The eye does not see the inner world but it brings it out all the same in the play of realities – mirroring, projecting, receiving. Even the blind viewer Teresias is able to speak truthfully. The eye as a sibling of the skin, nose, mouth and ears shows the internal and the external as a complex process, controlled by feeling and reduced by knowledge. Experience comes from experiencing, whereas the “I” grows alternately between the internal and the external. In the huge colourful surfaces, in the tension between a circle, a rectangle, a line and a dot the eye sees the inner world in the outer one: i.e.in the pictures. Thus we have the spartan female against the exclaiming male, India in the middle of Europe. The female: the Earth, the circle. The male: the intellect, the blue.

At the turn of the century, the Indian psychoanalyst Bose, the psychiatrist from Calcutta, found the technique of hypnosis, of free association, of laying the hand on the forehead to cure his patients without ever having known Freud. In 1920, he came in contact with the writings of Freud. He wrote to Freud, who wrote back, expressing surprise at the wide propagation of his ideas. In 1923, Bose founded the Indian Psychoanalytical Society. 15 members in Bombay and Calcutta began work on the search for a relationship between the inner and the outer thought the understanding of a dynamic unconscious.

The unconscious, which in a psychoanalytical sense is built by displaced contents, primary processes, fluctuation, com- pression and symbolising, is dominated by a special mechanism. The unconscious perceptions which are retained in the fantasies and imaginary scenarios and on which the driving force fixes itself are nothing but colourful manifestations of wishes and de- sires.. one way of accessing and deducting the unconscious(Freud calls it tha “via regia”) is through the understanding of dreams.

And Art? Can one look at art and dreams as female and male cousins?

Both come from closely related nurseries and are nursed by the same wet nurse. The early milk of symbolising nurtures them and teaches them to prefer the use of reality according to alienated or better still, one’s own laws. It teaches them to love pictures including word pictures, and teaches them to live out secrets and also incorporate them in pictures. If one can look at a dream as the general and typical symbol of the human mind – a psychic activity which is closely bound to life, then the only dreamless state is death. The same is true of the creation and fashioning of symbols and futher more of pictures.

Is there a general understanding of symbols? And how does one understands this general understanding?
Can one still speak of symbols where a simple spartan dot in Tantra restrains the mind before being spellbound?
Can one speak of a symbolic gesture when a man in old house puts a shawl around the shoulders of a woman so that she does not freeze? He has a second shawl and can lend her one. Is our symbol yours, and mine yours?
Is the alien the outer/inner and the familiar the inner/outer or is it the other way around?

And how does the symbol behave towards the sign? In Rangoli, an Indian folk art, there is the concept of a mandala which is formed by the footprints of Lakshmi and Vishnu and then becomes an ornament enclosed in a rectangle. The footprints of Vishnu(a sign) are placed on the footprints of Lakshmi, the pair is shielded/protected within the rectangular framework, not in the sense of being imprisioned but of being united. The symbol shows both as man and woman in the sex act as different and separate who are united and complete in themselves against the external which separates. There is the external, and there is also an alien, external aspect in the internal. The symbol employs this sign.

This confrontation is never absent in Cherkoori’s pictures. It is sometimes looked for in several pictures and finally pro- duced: the two, the separated who gravitate towards each other and who belong to each other, who do not belong to themselves: circle and rectangle, dots opposite each other in the surface, a small rectangle to a large one, a displaced rectangle in a straight one, the two different coloured squares and now enters the colour as a bare sign.

And in it life occurs. One talks about life as pulsating. This can be understood with refference to the blood. Blood has an unmistakable, impressive colour.

How then are colours of dream pictures tinted/dyed? It is very striking that dreams are very seldom dreamt in colour, also not in black and white (to draw an analogy from films). One can say that they are dreamt colourlessly and perhaps it is here that their symbolic character is emphasised. The censorship of dreams functions differently from that of the waking state, since the motor activites are shut off in sleep. Does this also operate in a similar manner with the living colour and the pulsating blood? One can dream about it. Ella Freeman Sharpe talks about the patient who during menstruation dreamt “I had not read the newspaper for a whole week, i really did not know what was wrong with me...”. Here the sound of the word “read” is replaced by “red” and what is dreamt about is blood. Can one say that blood as a symbol is dreamt about but is itself not living?

Two colous(man and woman, life and death) opponents who want to mix with each other in a friendly or a combative manner, but always return to their elementary condition: red against blue, turquoise against yellow, white balls – black square. As we have seen, out of two signs which overlap, against each other or with each other, there arises a symbol( within a boundary): a scene with significance which hides itself behind the sign. But the colour awakens the symbol, overpowers it and imbues the pair with the significance of pro-reation, of creativity.

Dreams and symbolising as related creations provide the artist, the painter who prepare the wedding of colours, with the climax/culmination, the bride’s gifts because the culmination of time allows the end to apear. The concrontation of the colours de- scribes the life process. The endless unity remains an illusion, and the separatedness establishes itself as the reality to be recognised.
It is frightening and terrible to think of colour and blood being so closely related.

For the small man according to the Indian psychoanalyst Dali, there is a traumatic experience with the nice tasting and nice smelling body of the mother which he calls the menstruation complex, and which according to him, is the foundation of the later Oedipal castration complex. The discovery of blood com- ing out of the mother’s body remains suppressed as a traumatic shock of a very warly sensual experience. But the fate of what- ever is suppressed is the subsequent unfolding of its effectiveness. Perhaps the later observation that a body without a penis could possibly become one’s fate becomes a threat. The assaulted bleed- ing picture of the mother is feared, hated and transferred to the father whom the threat of castration is ascribed. This is as far as the hypothesis of Daly is concerned.

However, it is certain theat there is a very early experi- ence of a bleeding body, a body which is at the time an ideal body and the implication of this fact has in a large measure not been researched i.e.it has been overlooked. If the colour remains duty- bound to the concrete object, the blood which courses through the human veins, it will carry along with it the tension between hope and threat, life and death.

On a cold and gloomy day in November, we wlked with Pravin Cherkoori through the workshop with his rooms full of pictures. He put a shawl around my shoulders so that i would not freeze. It was a verry narrow shawl, but made out of wool. I did not think that it was this which did not let me freeze. I think it was the colours in their severity and power which did not admit anything but themselves. Later, when we stood on the street, i ob- served their terrific power, the way one becomes conscious of a hand which retreats from the place on which it is laid. I stood op- posite the colours, the challengers with the closed doors between us, only now freed from them and recognising their significance.