Enter and Transform

Here is an earlier draft of a concept note for a past solo show called 'Entrances', which I did in Irving Arts Center, Texas US, in 2007. It was interesting for me to see how my mind was at that point in time. I used a much shorter version for the catalogue.

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We have been facing these challenges of transportation, since the early times. The history of vehicular movement aligns itself with our evolution as a species. From the invention of the wheel to fossil fuelled cars, the world has changed dramatically. Now we take our vehicles for granted and we cannot imagine a life without them.

We live with the good and the bad effects of motor vehicles and we have a love-hate relationship with them. Some worldlings are obsessed with various car designs to the extent which it may seem like a medical condition! They think and talk only about cars! Isn't a car a means to go from point A to point B? I think a car is almost only as good as the promise of the place it can take you.

The city traffic is a painful reality anywhere in the world. The contemporary visual of the urban landscape is not that pretty. In fact most of our cities are really ugly! But humans are resilient beings with a better vision, I am sure. The gate of any city is a promise to the future. How we place our urge to enter, transport and transform within this speckled history of humanity is up to each and every one of us. On a subtle level, when we step into a vehicle our state of being has transformed, in essence from a body of static to a mind-state with an intention of motion. Visuals and visions change along with this transition of being.

Any passage is a potential point of no return. Any entrance is at once both a promise of gain and loss. The window scenes are fleeting like in a trance. There is a dreamy quality to the visuals which is relaxing and enjoyable. Yet the anticipation about arriving the destination may diminish one's awareness of the now.

The rearview mirror tells us about the living past. The memory of a past we think is real and we are always trying to fix it by doing constant replay. We know that past is all gone, still we hit the replay over and over again. Instead of glancing at the rear view mirror once in a while to learn from it, we are fixated in the past-view and forget to enjoy the ride.

If we are trying to escape, it will be almost sure that whatever we run away from will be waiting for us at the final destination. This burden of misery follows the sufferer like a fellow traveler. It’s like a thief who is trained to follow you. The movement of the vehicle becomes a theft of the present if the traveler’s attention is focused on the future. There is an urge for a perpetual motion and we miss the real now, which is lost in our commentary about it. There is always a slight delay in being with the real. By that time we passed the direct experience of the real, we had missed the present already.

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Image: 'Transport-1' : Water color. Size: 30 x 42 inches. ©sebastian varghese