East. West. Spirit. Matter

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet"

Rudyard Kipling From the Ballad of East and West

Dana Lynne Andersen and Rajesh K. Baderia have proved the statement wrong in more ways than one. Dana Lynne Andersen from California (USA) and Rajesh K. Baderia from New Delhi (India) come together in the white cube space of the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre with a rare energy which brings in international cross currents of philosophical thought. Both Dana and Rajesh are fuelled by the same search for an awakening of the mind and body to higher levels of consciousness. Together they bring in a singular fusion which has an uncanny alchemy.

Two diverse individuals, two different sexes, one man one woman from two different geographies would undoubtedly have dissimilar languages yet in their case their alphabets are similar. Both share a common ‘zeitgeist’ that of a shared cosmology.

For Dana “The Arts have the potential to catalyze the evolution of humanity.” She is creating work as a global fuel to harness and channelize human energy. Dana works as a conduit of transformation within the human spirit. And this stems from her own spiritual awakening which in a way finds a resonance in India.

The scale of Dana’s works is almost monumental. Her paintings are spectacular in their breadth of vision and intensity of colour. The mystical panorama of colours and form speak of the vastness of the universe and mysterious depths of nature. Dana explores and interrogates the human and natural energies through the act of painting itself.

Rajesh K. Baderia on the same trail uses a different language of expression and representation. Using sacred geometry and ancient texts, Rajesh creates powerful paintings which resonate with hidden energy. Using primal pure colours Rajesh creates works which transform themselves into ‘yantras’ and icons of meditation. Blood red and black, cerulean blue and black, deep greens and blacks almost hypnotise you into a meditative silence.

Predominantly abstract, the paintings are created intuitively evolving out of a similar practice of traditional Indian painters who meditated for days before they created divine icons. He follows the trajectory of ‘Dhyana’ and his paintings are a reflection of this feeling of introspection and oneness. It is the spirit carrying the form within itself, much against the Western norms where the form carries whatever that may be of the spirit. Looking at the world not with a physical eye, but with beliefs making the physical seeing of things a passage to the opening in an inner spiritual movement. Rajesh K. Baderia’s works are governed by a principle, making abstraction an essence of being, feeling and sensing.

Dr. Alka Pande

April, 2008