Legacy

In 2016 I created ‘Heritage’, partially from my subconscious, and shortly after in the January of 2017, I happened to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in Bangalore. Bear in mind I had just stepped into painting, just a year in, and what follows is one of those moments that really cemented the notion that painting was to be my vocation, a lifelong pursuit.

What I saw, amongst a collection by a Japanese Zen master painter whose name now eludes me, a painting near identical to what I had visualised and created with Heritage just a few months prior. Mine was red and gold, rendered with a crisp line as is my style. This one, however, was blue and gold and painted freehand with multiple layers, of course. As mine was. And it shared the line, and the entire composition and execution, and except the one primary colour choice it was identical. I was stunned.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I never found out who that Zen master painter was. But as far as I was concerned, this was it. That sign we all look for, staring back at me in paint and canvas. This would be my contribution to the world. I give you, my legacy.

The blue is custom, what I like to call Electric Blue,  my favourite, but based on cerulean blue. The gold is paler, a pale gold compared to the bronze gold of ‘Heritage’, and much trickier than you might expect of getting onto canvas. Took multiple passes to get the desired consistency and texture. Created in a night.