“Stormy Night and Features”
Assist. Prof. Danaya Chiewwattakee
Introduction :
Ragamala or the Garland of Ragas was first created in the 13th century. It was a set of illustrative painting accompanied with poem and music which have connection to feelings and especially preferences. it depicted the illus- tration of hero, heroine and gods and also the names and symbols of love which coordinates time, seasons and aesthetic in the framework of Hinduism. The Mongol Empire and Islamic nobles would assign artists to create work which depicted the !taste” of music as Indian philosophers thought that music was the higher art form. The philosophers were interested in Malik (the aes- thetic of sound), Mittal (dance music), incantation and the telling of the story (called Kaushul).
The work of Madhmadhavi Ragini of Hindola Raga depicted a young woman who devoted herself to love. She did not afraid on the dark and men- acing storm. She walked through all these dangers to see her lover at the trysting spot. The creator of this work created this painting with not just only a perspective of love but also the perspective of bravery of living an honorable life and the right to fight for freedom under the oppressed world.
Because all the characters were fictional so they could be more real than the reality. The scene of the woman fighting with the dark and menacing storm was the symbol of the fighting against the higher power. The woman overcame the obstacles by the hands of the woman from the present who used the spider web to manipulate and orchestrate things with confidence.
70% of the work used dark colors to represent mystery, fright and dan- ger. The storm also depicted obstacles and the lurking power. 30% of the painting is the standing position of Madhmadhavi Ragini. Even though it is just a small and leaning space, it is the symbol of liberation and conquering. The other details such as vegetation, flowers and insects were merging together to represent the support given the woman’s boldness. The woman with spider web is representing the present-day women who are ready to fight for what they want.
Objectives:
Two women from two generation were merged together by using the cultural medium, abstraction, representation and reenactment with new per- spectives. The use of the illustrations of vegetation, insect, feather, the Gar- den of Eden, view of the east and cyclone to create a dream-like image which gives the feeling of eeriness, fright, and mystification in contrast with the feel- ing of not being alone, hope and will to fight.
Methodology:
The research on satellite image of the cloud over Namib desert, the humidity of the south western African sea breeze and the river near Maelifellssandur, Myrdalsjokull region, Iceland.
The Deconstruction of images from the red sea dust storm, hurricane Madeline and Lester (which happened simultaneously in Hawaii), Cyclones over the Mediterranean Sea. The deconstructed images were colored and printed by inkjet printer onto canvas.
The research of RAGAMALA painting from India. The hyperrealist im- age and the hand-made animation on the image create the feeling of eeri- ness, fright, and the back and forth between the mysteriousness and the feel- ing of not being alone.
Images of female models from BAZARR magazine. The models are the representative of the modern world who manipulate and spin the spider web.
The usage of embroidery over the shapes and images of vegetation, flower, insect, feather, spider web, cyclone, and hurricane. This method creat- ed sense of chaos from the storm. Additionally, it added the complexity, movement, splashing, and ripple in some parts of the work.
Techniques and Materials:
– Use of acrylic Color on paper
– Inkjet printing of Canvas
– Complex embroidery and other decoration with various materials
Photos (2-5 images):
Conclusion:
The content of this work is a combination of abstract background and the hyperreal image of 2 women from the different times. The work was created with inkjet printing technique on canvas. Because of the length of the canvas a limitation of this method, the difficulty of adding textures onto the work, when adding every texture onto the work the creator had to be very careful and pre- cise. The creator also experimented on the work by cutting the canvas into pieces and combined it, used the combination of wet colors and materials. In addition, the creator was trying various ways on creating patterns and dimen- sions on the work.
References:
H.Water Lack, (2001) Garden Eden. TASCHEN GMBH, Italy.
Catherine Glynn, Robert Skelton, Annal. Dallapiccola, 2011 RAGAMALA paintings from India, Philip Wilson Publisher, London, UK.
https://www.baanjomyut.com/Library/Indianaesthetics https://www.Lesa.biz/earth/atmosphere/phenomenom https://www.nstda.orth/th/Insta-Knowlege/3011_acerLaPhotograph
