Hindu Artists Calls Imagination, Going Beyond Predictable Imagery

THE HINDU
By Sujatha Shankar Kumar

"Elephant Walk" by Asma Menon

INDIA---In India, we have our flying chariots and the superhuman Hanuman, we have our mythologies where Gods take on many avatars and come to earth. Many of these scenes are depicted in temple art. As times change, contexts change. Society thirsts for new myths. Art, like mythology, is a channel to express the intangible. Imagination becomes the vehicle and the artist is the driver. For Asma Menon, making mythologies has been inseparable from painting. In "Elephant Walk," an elephant is wildly patterned between a patchwork and a jigsaw puzzle. When I talk to Asma she says, “Once Upon a time is about the way Madras used to be, with those old buildings, boat rides…” It is only possible with imagination, a gift given to every human that we can harness infinitely. [link]