An Apparition

Several months back, I was browsing paintings  by The Mother. Yes, she was an artist in Paris before she started her spiritual journey with Sri Aurobindo. One of her paintings is titled "An Apparition". The painting itself didn't captivate me as much as the title. However there are other paintings of hers that made a lot of impression on me, and a lot more impression than this particular one. But the title of it was stuck in my head, and also her style, for e.g., check this piece out.

And then, a few days back I saw a call for artists from a gallery - it was for a themed exhibition and the theme was 'The Tortured Artist'. I am not planning to participate in that one, but the theme was stuck in my head as well.

These things, combined with the experience of art taking over an artist's reality, reaching into his/her depths, inspired me to come up with this piece. It depicts the extent to which a work can haunt an artist until its completion. The phenomenon where an artist becomes lost, or at best small relative to the work of art is one I keep experiencing, and one that many artists report experiencing. And it inspired me to come up with this quick pastel drawing.

It is up to the viewer to interpret this as a moment of enlightenment or the nightmare experienced by a crazy artist.