Un Mind by artist Mahesh Sharma is a subliminal pause from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. Tracing the scenic beauty of Bhutan and its culture, Sharma brings together five elements of life, five colours of senses and the teachings of Buddha through intricate sculptures and paintings.
Displayed on the sprawling lawns of Bikaner House, the exhibition (on till February 20) is divided into three parts – the past, the present and the future. Each expresses his journey of self-discovery and personal growth. The first part, the past, is an elaborate fusion of art and fashion.
As a former fashion show set designer, he blends in bits of his designs from shows for Sabyasachi and Tarun Tahiliani. Installations of ants made of recycled waste crawl across walls and the hanging chain-like-structures are a nod to his past and convey a sense of work that is “unending”.
“I wanted to show my past as an ant. Ants work for their queen for 24 hours and have no time for themselves. I was in the fashion industry and I worked very hard as a set designer for someone else, with no break for myself. It’s a portrayal of that pattern,” Sharma says.
As one moves to the next part, the present, one sees cylindrical glasses lined at the entrance, full with bricks of colours used for paintings. One such painting, titled ‘Goddesses of five senses’ and painted in Bhutanese mud colour, depicts deities conjured up by one’s senses in blues, greens and gold.
“These are elements of the Bhutanese folklore. These goddesses are similar to what ‘apsaras’ are for us, as they have offerings to give to god,” Sharma says. The section also has a 9-foot-high metal 3-D version of the Buddha in five layers painted in the same colours used for the paintings with a pinch of gold and silver.
The third section, the future, straddles ideas of human connection with inner peace. It deftly explores the teachings of the Buddha as a transformative element through the series of paintings called Nar-naari. While Sharma crafts versions of the male-female combination in Bhutanese colours on canvas and woods from a remarkable design perspective, he focuses on the equilibrium both genders offer to nature.
One of the paintings depicts the male side with droopy eyes on the left and the female on the right. One can see dragons weaving through the clouds and fish from the country as a recurring motif in the paintings. The artist identifies himself with another element in his work – butterflies.
One leaves the exhibit with a hope for tomorrow, as if inspired to embrace the inevitability of change in the future.