My 15- month journey into the creative world of paintings/art!

Most of us do not feel jerks while undertaking our life's journey. However, on certain occasions the life's journey of many of us looks more like a roller-coaster ride. Hence there are certain events or dates representing those ups and down of this journey, we like to remember for ever (or forget as early as possible). Such is the case of an event for me that took place on 29th March, 2010 when a Painting Exhibition organized by me along with Mrs Sadhna kumar (wife of Pravir Kumar, IAS) at Lalit Kala Akademy, Rabindra Bhavan, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Mrs Jaya Chandersekhar (wife of Cabinet Secretary, GOI). Mrs Usha Gupta  Income Tax Ombudsman U.P.(and wife of Chief Secretary of UP Mr. Atul Kumar Gupta) also lit the lamp on this occasion. Sri Jawhar Sircar, Secretary Culture, GOI also joined the ceremony a little later. In the exhibition sculptures were also exhibited by Rajni Jamwal and Mahesh Prajapati.

In the exhibition, 20 paintings of sizes - 122 cm x92 cm and 152 cm x 122 cm have been displayed. Most of them fall under the category of 'abstract and representational' such as 'Ultimation', 'The Odyssey of Life', Cosmic Energy and Germination while remaining are purely abstract like ‘Mosaic’, ‘Symphony’ and ‘Pyramids of Life’. In many of the paintings I have tried to depict spiritual message. Nearly half of the paintings are of acrylic medium on canvas and others are of mixed media i.e. acrylic as well as oil. In 3 paintings entitled 'The Rising Sun', 'Cosmic Energy' and 'Fusion', I have used enamel with kerosene oil. In many paintings, I have used rollers to give an effect of layering of colors. Mr Keshav Malik who is an eminent Indian art critic, scholar and curator and was awarded the highest award of the Lalit Kala Akademy, India's National Academy of Art for lifetime contribution has explained my painting work in some of the following words:

Balvinder Kumar is a man of many parts, and which also include the art of painting, often - - though not always - - landscapes couched in a sufficient degree of abstraction. In these studies, executed in acrylic, that we find most fully expressed that attitude to nature which is fundamental to this genre of painting. These, at their best, can be lovely enough compositions, the product of the artist's delighted contemplation of the countryside. Their freshness and spontaneity reveal that the artist harbors an inner world but which is increasingly missing in the members of the formally tutored middle classes of the day.

Given his disciplined attitude and agreeable brush control, and after prolonged meditation upon his themes, he produces work of a delicacy and assurance un-approached by the haphazard novices in the art of the day. Colour, as an aspect of light, has been well explored by the painter. So that each one of his colours is affected by the direct and the reflected light that falls on it and also by the quality of the colour and the colour adjacent to it.

My journey into the creative world of paintings began nearly 15 months back when I was passing through a troubled period of ‘suspension’ which was of total nine months beginning from Oct, 08. In Jan, 09 it was just a matter of coincidence that I visited Gari center of Lalit Kala Akademy (near lskon temple in East of Kailash, New Delhi) and met a young artist in the field of paintings and sculptures. Keeping the fact that I had never tried paintings in my earlier life time in mind, I don't know how a strong inner desire arose to enter into the field of art/paintings. Under the guidance of that young painter I began to learn its intricacies and start copying realistic paintings on canvas from computer. After making more than 20 such realistic paintings, I started making paintings based on my own ideas/concepts. I used rollers on bigger canvas with acrylic colors for abstract paintings. That's how I entered into the world of paintings and have made so far nearly 50 paintings out of which 20 original works have been displayed in exhibition.

We all have a vast untapped potential of creativity in our inherent nature but we hardly try to make use of that potential. The main reason is that we tend to stay in our own ‘comfort zone’ due to mental conditioning. Because of undercurrent anxiety and fear, many of us resist from entering into fresh challenging areas or to avail new opportunities while undertaking our journey. I have explained this so called ' mental conditioning' in detail in my earlier articles on this blog. I also feel that during troubled or painful period of life, we become more inclined or receptive for spiritual growth/development and start searching the meaning and purpose of life. It also happened with that in that phase of nine months not only I learned many hard and bitter truths of life but also entered into fresh areas of creativity such as to make paintings, spiritual reading and writing with the sole objective of finding inner peace and tranquility. When I see that very period of life in broad perspective or in totality of things, I feel that I had gained far more in terms of self satisfaction and achievement by venturing into new  area of creativity compared to what I lost during that period.