Inspirational, Empowering, Multi-cultural Art

A beauty, babe, lass, With a touch of class, A glance and touch up, Lipstick and make up.

Late at night, Thoughts on flight, Tangled cobweb they seem to make Meshing doubts, questions and mistakes.

Tut, tu, too, too, too, tu, tu, He listened to his favorite toon, Head swayed among pleasure waves, Like rich, rhythmic ocean waves

Intro

Hi and welcome to this, here site.

Let me introduce the main character. He had many avatars. To some he was Bullda, to others Spider. Some others called him an extremist and yet others declared him insane. Many are the conversations I've had with this character - some, late at night, as he pulled on his chillum. Some, very early in the morning, when he was likely to be very disturbed and frantic. Those were the times I saw the flash in his eyes - the flash of insanity, or what I thought was insanity.

He could be capricious - gentle and kind today and almost violent and bursting with some turbulent energy the next. Some conversations - he would barely speak a word. In others, he would ramble like the possessed. It took some time for me. Some time, to realize that this crazy character had something crazy inside him, gnawing to get out. It was eating him up. We were good friends even back then. So, seeing his anguish and turmoil, I advised him to express himself in any media - sort of a cleansing, a therapy.

The first few attempts were explosive - full of uncontrolled energy - sharp, forceful jabs in every which direction. Followed by collapses when he would do nothing but eat, shit and sleep - the sleep of the drained. Time passed and he slowly became more coherent.

ONEKI ART:

Yet, his artwork remained strange ... something slippery that you couldn't quite grasp. Some would look at his art in wonder and confusion and ask "what style is this?" I used to say it was his original style. But it did not work - I was naive.

One late night, several of us friends from distant lands and times were imbibing and chatting philosophically about his work. What should we call it? What should we call it? We racked our brains. And one of the friends blurted out - "Oneki." You see, our little group is also called Oneki. We come from distant lands, yet live in harmony. We are the global cosmoplitans. We don't belong to any culture and we belong to all cultures. We are one. So Oneki.

'One' is one in many european languages, 'ek' is one in many indo-european languages and 'yi' is one in several oriental languages. Oneki. And so it clicked. His art reflected our philosophy - a philosophy of oneness - a philosophy of consciously rejecting ethnic boundries.

What is the artwork about?

Some others have asked what the art work is about. I must admit that I don't undertand it fully, because all artwork is slathered with layers and layers of different consciousness levels. But from what I do know, I can say that it is just a humorous, down to earth, playful depiction of the world around him. It's a comic book for the modern world. You know, long, long ago they had Superman and Tarzan. Now it's Oneki. Superman and Tarzan are old and so everyone recognizes them. Oneki is new and ... well you get the picture.

Who is SVR?

Okay. So who is this strange character? His name is Sridhar Vallinayagam Ramasami. Quite a mouthful, I know. We called him Sridhar. Others who did not know him so well just called him SVR.

Quite a brilliant guy and achieved the standard, run of the mill high academic accomplishments. Graduated from the renowned Indian Insititute of Technology, got a scholarship for further studies in the USA and then went on to become a programmer and engineer. I have been told he was very good at what he did. Doesn't surprise me one bit.

But the 9 to 5 did him in. You see, there are some creatures that are not meant to be caged. You can cage them if you like, but they will just wither and die. And while they are alive, they will always be looking for the escape key. And once they escape, they ain't comin back! And so this character, went through quite a mental turmoil in the 9 to 5 world.

Everyday, the woods and mountains seem to call out his name. He listened and would go into the forests. First for short times, you know 2 days. Slowly, they became longer - 5 days, 10 days. Then one day in a fit of desperation he threw away the job, his home and all his possesions, shaved his head and became a sanyasi - a travelling monk. (See, why some call him an extremist?)

He undertook the task of carrying a secret from the Sea of Eternal Chaos to the Goddess of Light. But, where does one find the Goddess? Well, he started his search in Cap Gaspe, Canada and finished the long pilgrimage in Key West Florida. Almost 5000 miles. Took him 10 months and 8 pairs of shoes. He wrote about some of the conditions on the trail. Brutal cold on mountain tops in the depths of winter. His sister would cry just reading the letters. But he did not mind the hardships. He just kept walking. Walking and searching. He searched and searched and like many other seekers before him, found the answer where he had never even thought of looking.

And so, he delivered the secret to the Goddess of Light. As a reward, the Goddess touched his head and he was transformed. His thoughts and mental models were flushed out. He gained a strong confidence in himself and he started blazing his own trail.

Then ... he moved to a backward and strange land! Or so it appeared to us at that time. "Fool," we told him. "Don't do this. You live in the land of milk and honey. Don't throw it away. Do you know the number of people who would literally give their right arms to be here?" But the fool did not listen. He followed the beat of some other drum. Back then we all agreed that he was the biggest fool we knew. Now our beards have turned white and we are not that sure!

Photo, photo. I know very important - this photo business. So here it is. Quite an incident too. You see, some admired his artwork. Some hated it. Others just shook their heads in confusion. One housewife came running from her cooking, spatula in hand and slung a large glop of grease on his painting. We were shocked. We wondered what he would do. He just smiled and proceeded to remove the grease off the canvas.

Recent / Upcoming Shows and Exhibitions:

And so he lived in this far off, strange land and painted and painted. He became more coherent and his voice grew stronger. His paintings were displayed in exhibitions, some big, some small. Here are some recent ones:

1) Nanchang University, Nanchang, China - Solo Show
May 27-29

2) UBS Asian Exhibition
May-Jun, Stamford, CT, USA

Others have said this about his artwork

His paintings have now been exhibited in several countries. Artists, critics and surprisingly children are particularly fond of his work. Let me just quote some of their own words:

... have a very visually unique and attractive technique and style. The art instantly grab one's attention, and then demand a second, closer look.

... color technique for these pieces is truly very fresh, modern and visually captivating.

...found the modern art work to be quite compelling, unique, ordered and well orchestrated. The color holds interest.

...is utterly charming. I love the consistent theme and process of the art. It is a solid thoughtful unit. The style is very contemporary, modern and playful.

...it has immediate visual impact and weight, the compositions are bold in their use of strong, clear shapes, and also complex as the shapes mesh, interlock, overlap in inventive ways

IN CONCLUSION:

So there you have it. I am a friend, well wisher and follower of SVR. SVR the Oneki artist = Sridhar the thinker = Sridhar Vallinayagam Ramasami the extremist. Thank you for reading and hopefully some of the stuff here will spark something in you.

      - Lord Kashyap, Intergalactic ruler of lost mipsils