This painting is a portrait of a Sikh. The turban, together with 4 other items that he carries on him is meant to remind him of the natural state that he should aspire to become. ‘In keeping these items on him, he is keeping the form intact.’
- Kes/Kesh
Uncut hair and beard, as given by God, to sustain him or her in higher consciousness. - Kanga
A wooden comb to properly groom the hair as a symbol of cleanliness. - Kara
An Iron bracelet. (Not Gold, nor Steel) worn on the wrist, signifying bondage to truth and freedom from material and aesthetic entanglement. - Kachara/Kaccha
Modest and specially designed cotton undergarment - Kirpan
The sword with which the Khalsa is committed to righteously defend the fine line of the Truth.
This topic is especially interesting to me because as painters we deal with the form to bring across certain content. Here the Sikhs wear their form as a reminder. A walking living piece of artwork. The artist who literally carries his work on him. He is an artist because he needs that sense of perception, that kind of looking that a painter would require to consolidate his form on his canvas. Here a Sikh wears his form and uses it to bring his spirit home to the Truth. There is that action of reality or that action of Truth that Krishnamurti and David Bohm were talking about in the book ‘Limits of Thought’.
Here the Sikh tries to live the Truth. So in this painting, I celebrate that fact that the Sikh lives his Art. He is Art in the way he thinks. In his holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, in the first few lines, it points out that immensity of the whole and how the logical mind cannot comprehend the whole Truth. How that mighty whole is omnipresent, unchanging, an unthinking intelligence, was always present even before man. It describes something mighty and all-encompassing. The Sikh form is to remind him of his purpose in trying to be part of that unseen intelligence. In this painting, I tried to capture that wholeness that he aspires to become.
