Why does art matter? What is the process of painting? What goes into painting an award winning work?

These are some of the questions that Preeti Rana answers in this piece, her photo essay. Her painting Paridriśya won the first prize at the Hyderabad Art Festival in September 2023.

In this poetic piece we explore with her how her appreciation of Indian classical music and dance such as Dhrupad, Odissi, and Flute, as well as indulgence in Indian philosophy and philosophers such as Śrī Aurobindo has helped her evolve as an artiste. You may read more about the Hyderabad Arts Festival here.

विषयवती वा प्रवृत्तिरुत्पन्ना मनसः स्थितिनिबन्धिनी १.३५
Those forms of concentration that bring extraordinary sense perceptions cause perseverance of the mind.

The Yoga-Sûtra of Patañjali 1.35 | Swami Vivekananda’s commentary

It is February of 2017. I am on a flight from Bahrain to Delhi. It is my second trip to India this month. A series of extraordinary happenings a few weeks before has led to this sequence. Those events are a chapter for another time.

Two musical experiences are awaiting me. Kishori Amonker’s last concert, that destiny ensures I attend. The other is Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar’s Dagar Vani Concert that changes my life forever.

I must share my observations of the music to give you context. I do so without disclaimers. Though a layman I have the same right as the maestro to his music and the Maker he is in communion with. It is how I hope my art is seen.

Dhrupad Dagarvani is the oldest genre of Indian Classical Music. There are pauses within its folds that activate a spirit of anticipation. The ālāp or introduction to the rāga is meditative and exploratory. It continues deep into the recesses of the mind till it reaches the gamak. The gamak is unexpected. Like thunder with melodic structure that is overwhelming till it glides back to the start I have been acquainted with, but lost sight of. The applause brings the maestro back to the audience. He refocuses as the pakhāvaj player does a preparatory sound check. Together they carry the composition to the end note.

I carry this experience home to my easel where I document my feelings. From the paintings I may derive an explanation for them.

My 16 year old daughter has recently introduced me to a new medium - ink and bleach. It is fascinating how bleach draws out shades of sepia and gold from black ink. It would work perfectly. The ink goes a shade beyond the point I lift the brush. Akin to this music that takes me beyond the knowing.

It has been two years since the concert that I attended. I am now in London for the London Art Biennale 2019, with two paintings.

I am thinking about the twelve other paintings and a question arises. Have I reached the end note to my Dhrupad experience?

As if on cue my phone rings. An unfamiliar and warm voice fills my ear. “I am Shabana Dagar, grandniece of your muse and music! I hope you paint all my ancestors!” Her belief and startling timing infuse my artistic endeavor.

My two paintings win a prize in the category of works in Ink. I return to Bahrain, my commitment renewed.

Paridriśya | 42”X30” Ink on Arches Aquarelle Paper

It is September of 2023. Paridriśya wins first prize at the Hyderabad Art Festival. It is from the Shabana series. It means landscape.

Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar’s portrait is the anchoring force for this painting.

The maestros provide me beginnings in more ways than one. I don’t know the rules of portraiture. I labour over it to achieve a resemblance to a photograph or a still from a video. This effort is immersive. I am absorbed, enveloped in music and under the watchful company of my serious minded lovebird Sky. My paintings are not illustrating music or the rāga or even the maestro. I am describing a place in time and thoughts they bring me to. I am sharing the landscape.

Anant | 30”X23” Ink on Arches Aquarelle Paper

Music is no more a passive backdrop. I listen differently.

Hariprasad Chaurasiya’s flute is a gateway. Akin to one I enter in meditation. With awareness, honed over the years, I paint Anant. It means infinite bliss.

It has been accepted as an entry to ItsLiquid International Art Festival in London, December 2023. In an extraordinary gesture of faith and belief, much like Shabana Dagar’s phone call all those years ago, the participation fee is a gift to me from Nilesh and Reena.

Nilesh and Reena, founders of Art-Ma, Home for original spiritual Art, met me at the London Art Biennale. Over Art, across from my paintings, we made conversation and connection. Nilesh was just back from the Mahā Kumbh and I remember him showing me amazing photographs.

Arushi | 30”X23” Ink on Arches Aquarelle Paper

Odissi dancer Arushi Mudgal came home to lunch with a common friend, tablist, Leena Ahmed on her visit to Bahrain. Leena had learnt Tabla at the Gandharva Mahā Vidyālayā that was established by Arushi’s grandfather.

Arushi’s warmth is radiant! The next day I attend her Odissi dance performance. It is a visual and emotional engagement of the most exquisite kind.

I paint Arushi free-hand without scale or measure. The grid I make for proportion is an intuitive and unique set of lines and angles. It is fascinating how the geometry of the famous Konark Wheel emerges, with the spokes and detail, exactly at the intersection points.

I bow to the sculptor and architect who created this wonder in stone. My mere drawing connects me to them the way only Art can, across time and historical wear and tear.

Arushi has been on my invitations and posters of exhibitions and newspaper interviews. It brings me joy when I see it. It is now available on the website of an art Curator in the US. I hope it finds a good home.

Indian Classical Music equipped me for discovery. I continue in the guiding light and wisdom of seers and sages. Nowhere else can I travel this way except through the fertile expansive land of the arts. Where I learnt that I am not an artist making art, it is Art that is making an artist of me.

Ahir Bhairav - the Morning Rāga | 42’x30’ Ink on Arches Aquarelle paper