Riya A – Page 12 – arts, ink.

The Indian Artist: A Christmas Special

December 20, 2020January 23, 2022 Riya A 1 Comment

So I was perusing my Instagram feed the other day (as I know that we all do now and again) and I came across an incredible artist that I wanted to share with all of you. This week’s post does not have anything to do with Indian culture, but rather, something festive that is still related to art and just in time for the holidays!

Maarit Hänninen is an artist and linocut printmaker based in Amsterdam and her beautiful paper ornaments really caught my eye, inspiring me to make my own. She uses linoleum blocks to carve out intricate designs and then applies them to create three-dimensional sculptural ornaments that are a perfect fit for the holiday season. She has clear instructions laid out on her Instagram, pdf templates free for anyone to print out, as well as videos detailing how she puts everything together.

I made one the other night and it turned out wonderfully! I wanted to share this with all of you in case anybody is interested in a fun and easy way to spruce up their bedroom. I have attached the links below, feel free to comment if any of you try it out!

I know this week’s post was very short, but I wanted to make sure that I took the time to share something that made me smile. During these trying times, all we can do is share a little joy. I hope that you all have a restful and incredible winter break and enjoy the holidays. Stay safe and as always, see you next Sunday!

https://www.instagram.com/maarit.hanninen/

https://maarithanninen.com/pages/downloads

~ Riya

Personal website: https://riyarts.weebly.com/

The Indian Artist: The Goddess of Fortune

December 13, 2020January 23, 2022 Riya A 2 Comments

How about another story this week? With the stresses of exams and the end of the semester, I thought that it would be a fun post! This is the story of the Goddess Lakshmi and how she came to be. The drawing shown this week is my recreation of one by Bijay Biswaal, done completely in ink. Enjoy!

Each and every deity in Hinduism has significant importance. The Goddess Lakshmi symbolizes good luck and is the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

The story begins with a meeting between Sage Durvasa and Lord Indra, the God of weather. Sage Durvasa offered a garland of flowers to Lord Indra who took the garland and placed it on the forehead of his flying elephant, Airavat. The elephant took the beautiful garland of flowers and threw it down on the earth. Durvasa got angry at this disrespectful treatment of his gift and cursed Lord Indra, saying that his kingdom would be ruined in the same way that the flower garland was ruined when it was thrown. At this point in the story, it is important to understand that these sages were very easily angered and often times full of excessive pride.

Following this encounter, Sage Durvasa walks away and Lord Indra returns to his kingdom where changes have already started to take place. The gods and people are losing their energy and vigor, the crops and plants are starting to die, citizens are foregoing any charity work, their minds are becoming corrupted by darker forces. With the Gods getting weak in the kingdom, the demons and demonic forces invade, defeating them. It is said that this is the reason that good and evil reside in us all.

After being defeated, the Gods went to Lord Vishnu, the ruler of the universe, to ask for help. He suggested that the churning of the ocean would restore the power back to the Gods by providing them with the antidote that would make them immortal once again. Thus, the churning of the ocean began. Think of this as a literal game of tug of war between the Gods and Demons. From this churning, the Goddess Lakshmi rose out of the waves seated on a full-blown lotus. The Gods got their power back and fought the demons again, and this time, they were successful.

I hope that each of you has a great end of the semester and may the Goddess Lakshmi grant a bit of luck on all of your exams. As always, if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

Looking forward to next Sunday!

~ Riya

Personal website: https://riyarts.weebly.com/

The Indian Artist: A Look Into an Inspiration

December 6, 2020January 23, 2022 Riya A Leave a comment

From a young age, I have always taken inspiration from artists that I admired. I would spend hours on end scouring through their works, mimicking them, committing their intricacies and details to memory, learning from how they presented such deep and complex emotions. This week, I decided that I would talk about one artist I discovered in high school, someone who’s art has spoken to me and has inspired me in my own work as well.

Kehinde Wiley is a Los Angeles native and New York-based visual artist who is known for his incredible portrait paintings. Wiley’s imagery creates a sense of ambiguity and provocative perplexity. By juxtaposing his subjects with the style of the piece, applying the visual vocabulary of glorification, history, wealth, and prestige to the portrayed figure, Wiley creates images that become larger than life. His work has a way of pervading into a realm that is both hyper-realistic while also creating an air of vague mystique.

Initially, Wiley’s portraits were created based on photographs taken of young men from the streets of Harlem. As time went on, he grew to exhibit more of an international view, including models found in landscapes throughout the world. He was even the artist to create the presidential portrait for Barack Obama. The models that he captures are dressed in their everyday clothing, assuming poses found in paintings or sculptures representative of the history of their surroundings. This juxtaposition of the “old” with the “new” is so visually potent and is what captured me when I first saw his work. His paintings evoke conversation and awaken complex issues that many would rather not be discussed.Wiley’s exploration of the human form against incredibly beautiful backgrounds is what I took inspiration from and channeled in some of my artwork as well.

One of my pieces piece, titled The Modern Brahma, done in mixed media ranging from watercolor, gold leafing, and acrylic has a background inspired by Wiley’s. In the piece, I create a rendition of Brahma, the four-headed God of Creation in Hinduism. The subject displays various heads, each holding a different expression. It is clear as well that the subject of the painting is not Indian, but rather Caucasian. This choice was to show the internal struggle that I have always had between staying true to my roots and culture versus wanting to fit within the American society that I have grown up in. That feeling of being an outcast and alienated is demonstrated through the countenance of the foremost face, while pride for my culture is shown in the smile on the other. The faces also all adorn a bindi on their foreheads, juxtaposing my traditional background and culture with my modern American society and upbringing.

As I’m sure many other artists do, I love taking inspiration from the works of other artists. I hope that I brought to light an incredible artist who is a leader in his craft and someone that I truly admire. As always, if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts! Looking forward to next Sunday.

~ Riya

Personal website: https://riyarts.weebly.com/

The Indian Artist: The Incarnations

November 29, 2020January 23, 2022 Riya A Leave a comment

Vishnu is one of the most important deities in the Hindu religion. He is known as the preserver and protector of the universes and Hinduism teaches that when humanity is threatened by chaos or evil, Vishnu will descend to Earth his incarnations to restore righteousness. These incarnations of Vishnu are called avatars and it is said in the scriptures that there are ten avatars total. Each of these avatars has a different form and purpose. When an individual is faced with a challenge, a particular avatar shows up to address the issue. In a recent piece done in mixed media from colored pencil, ink, and acrylic, I demonstrate the avatars of Vishnu. For this week’s post, I thought that I would briefly talk about each avatar!

1) Matsya the Fish: Matsya is said to be the avatar that rescued the first man, as well as other creatures of the earth, from a great flood. Matsya is sometimes depicted as a great fish or as a human torso connected to the tail of a fish. It is said that Matsya forewarned man about the coming flood and ordered humans to preserve all the grains and living creatures in a boat. This story is similar to many stories found in other cultures. Can you think of any?

2) Kurma the Tortoise: Kurma is seen in a mixed human-animal form. The tortoise incarnation relates to a classic Hindu myth where he churns the ocean of milk to obtain treasures dissolved within. In this myth, Vishnu took the form of a tortoise to support the churning stick on his back.

3) Varaha the Boar: Varaha, depicted as either a full boar form or as a boar head on a human body, raised the earth from the bottom of the sea after the demon Hiranyaksha dragged it to the bottom of the sea. After a battle of 1,000 years, Varaha raised the earth out of the water with his tusks.

4) Narasimha the Lion: As the legend goes, the demon Hiranyakashipiu obtained a blessing that he could not be killed or harmed by any means, making him virtually invincible. Arrogant in his security, Hiranyakshipiu began to cause trouble both in heaven and on earth. To put a stop to this, Vishnu emerged in the form of a man-lion known as Narasimha to slay the demon.

5) Vamana the Dwarf: Vamana appeared when the demon king Bali ruled the universe and the gods lost their power. One day, Vamana visited the court of Bali and begged for as much land as he could cover in three steps. Laughing at the dwarf, Bali granted the wish. The dwarf then assumed the form of a giant. He took the whole earth with the first step and the entire middle world with the second step. With the third step, Vamana sent Bali down to rule the underworld.

6) Parasurama: In his form, Vishnu appears as a priest who comes to the world to kill bad kings and protect humanity from danger. He appears in the form of a man carrying an ax, sometimes referred to as Rama with an ax.

7) Lord Rama: As you may remember from my story about Diwali, Rama was sent by the gods to do battle with the multi-headed demon Ravana when he was sent to the forest with his wife and brother for 14 years. He a major deity in the Hindu religion and even considered the supreme lord in some traditions.

8) Lord Krishna: Krishna is one of the most widely revered deities in Hinduism. He was a cowherd who was notoriously known to be a troublemaker in his youth. Krishna is depicted in a variety of forms because there are so many stories surrounding him. Krishna often has blue skin and wears a crown of peacock feathers with a golden loincloth.

9) Balarama, Krishna’s Brother: Balarama, the elder brother of Krishna, engaged in many adventures alongside his brother. Stories of Balarama always focus on his prodigious strength. In visual representations, he is usually shown with pale skin in contrast to Krishna’s blue skin.

10) Kalki the Mighty Warrior: Kalki is the last incarnation of Vishnu. He is not expected to appear until the end of Kali Yuga, the current time period we are in right now. Kalki will come, it is believed, to rid the world of oppression by unrighteous rulers riding a white horse and carrying a fiery sword.

I hope that you all enjoyed reading these brief descriptions and stories of each of Vishnu’s avatars. As always, if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts! Looking forward to next Sunday.

~ Riya

Personal website: https://riyarts.weebly.com/

The Indian Artist: The Elephant God

November 22, 2020January 23, 2022 Riya A Leave a comment

I thought that this week I would tell a story that I loved hearing when I was growing up. This is the story of the Ganesha, and how he came to be known as the Elephant God. Enjoy!

Shiva’s wife Parvati disliked being disturbed when she was bathing but for some reason, Shiva never seemed to remember. He strode in whenever he wished oftentimes really annoying Parvati. One day when Shiva was away meditating in the forest, Parvati went into her bathing chamber full of determinations and a mischievous glint in her eyes. ‘Today I will not be disturbed,” she thought as she massaged herself with jasmine oil and sandalwood paste.

Picking up a flat wooden knife she scraped the scented paste off her body and kneaded it into a lump, mixing it with the pure, fine soil from the ground. When it was firm enough, she fashioned the clay into the figure of a boy, perfect in every limb. She held the beautiful sculpture of the boy up to her face and poured her life’s breath into him. In the twinkling of an eye, a young boy stood before her, handsome, alive, eyes bright with love.

Parvati hugged him. “Now look, I want you to do something for me. I’m going to have a bath and no one is to enter this chamber. You will be my little guard.”

A piece that I did in ink inspired by a beautiful drawing of Ganesha by Bijay Biswaal

The boy bowed, hands folded, “Of course, Mother.” Parvati went into her bathing chambers and shut the door. The boy posted himself outside and stood with legs apart, hands folded, the spitting image of a little knight.

Shiva returned from his meditative retreat and looked around for Parvati. When he didn’t see her, he made straight for the bathroom but came to an abrupt halt. In front of the door, blocking his passage, stood a strange young boy. Shiva moved forward, with purpose, but the boy didn’t budge.

“I will not,” said the boy coolly, without a trace of fear. “My mother said no one must enter, so I will not let anybody in until she says so.”

“I am not interested in what your mother said. Move out of my way!” Shiva roared, and his terrible anger erupted. In a flash, his sword was out and fell on the boy’s tender neck. The young boy cried as he fell, and his severed head rolled on the ground. Parvati sprang up and flung the door open. Her eyes widened in pain and anguish when she saw the headless body of her son. She turned on Shiva like a lioness, angry tears pouring down her face.

“You’ve killed my son, you heartless brute,” she stormed. “How could you kill a young boy unequal in strength and years? And they call you a Great God! Some Great God you are! I’ll never forgive you for this.” Shiva looked at her in blank astonishment, bewildered and appalled.

“I’m truly sorry, my dear, just don’t be angry with me,” Shiva tried to soothe his wife in his most calming voice. “I will bring him back to life, I promise.”

Parvati threw him a smoldering look and turned away. Shiva summoned his faithful attendants and spoke with power, “Bring me the head of the first dead creature you see,’ Shiva ordered. The servants left and almost immediately saw a beautiful elephant down the path. They cut off its head and quickly took it to Shiva. Shiva knelt by the headless body of the boy and placed the elephant’s head on the raw, bleeding neck. The head merged seamlessly into the torso of the boy and a moment later the little eyes flickered open.

Shiva picked him up and embraced him. “You, my son, will be the leader of my servants and the world will know you as Ganesha”’ he pronounced with a loving smile. “No god or man will dare begin a venture without first invoking you. In you shall be the power to remove every obstacle in the path of man, and in you shall lie the wisdom of the ages.”

This week was a little different, but if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

Looking forward to next Sunday!

~ Riya

Personal website: https://riyarts.weebly.com/

The Indian Artist: The Festival of Lights

November 15, 2020January 23, 2022 Riya A 2 Comments

Seeing as yesterday was Diwali, I thought that it would be appropriate to do this week’s post on the festival of lights. Diwali is one of the most important festivals in Hindu culture and symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, power of good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

A classic image of a rangoli design done with powdered pigments

During times of Diwali, which most traditionally is a five-day affair, families adorn and clean their houses, decorating it with beautiful flowers and ornaments. On the days leading up to the holiday and the day of, the entire home is lit up with candles and diyas. Diyas are small oil lamps that are generally made from clay. The wicks are made out of cotton and fueled by some type of oil or ghee. These Diyas or oil lamps are lit for deities and to bring light to the house and ward off any darkness. Another part of custom adornment is something called rangoli, a personal favorite of mine. Rangoli is created from either chalk or pigmented powders and used to create beautiful designs on pavements as well as home entrances.

The lighting of candles and oil lamps is a welcome to the Goddess of Fortune and Prosperity, Lakshmi. It lights a path, welcoming her into blessing the home with good fortune, prosperity, and health. The holiday celebrates new beginnings and the start of the Indian fiscal year.

The Goddess Lakshmi sitting on a lotus with wealth and prosperity flowing from her arms

The story of Diwali is long and well-loved. Diwali is said to be the commemoration of the return of Lord Rama and his wife Sita (Reincarnation of Goddess Lakshmi) and brother from a 14-year exile into the forest. While on their exile, Sita is taken by the demon Ravana. Lord Rama and his brother travel with an army far and wide, eventually conquering Ravana and bringing Sita back home. Lord Rama’s return to his home kingdom is celebrated by a festival from the townspeople that last for days with music, food, singing, and dancing. From then onwards, this festival came to be known as Diwali. The day Lord Rama returned home with Goddess Lakshmi (Sita).

Diwali is a time for being with family and loved ones. Families light fireworks and host large feasts and celebrations. Temples, homes, offices, and buildings are brightly illuminated inside and outside. In the days leading up to Diwali, people clean, renovate, and beautifully adorn their homes. On the final day of the celebration, people dress in their finest clothes and perform a puja (prayer) for Lakshmi.

This piece titled The Festival of Lights, well-named I know, is a small depiction of Diwali and the beautiful tradition that it represents. The hands are covered in henna holding a diya lamp. The entire piece is done in colored pencil and was done early on when I started using my culture and upbringing as a topic of my art. For me, Diwali has always been a beautiful time of the year. Family and friends come together and we all sit around enjoying each other’s company and laughter. Eating delicious food and Indian cuisine, praying for one another’s health, prosperity, and happiness, we all forget the daily mundane troubles for a moment and lose ourselves in mutual companionship and love.

Happy Diwali to you all. As always, if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

Looking forward to next Sunday.

~ Riya

Personal website: https://riyarts.weebly.com/