Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Europe effect ....

The only thing that I was excited about in Europe was Rome, Vatican and the structures of historical importance more than the modern and the post modern art. But I guess I was in for a surprise. Before going I had never really thought of these structures from the religious point of view but when I saw the other tourists, their expressions, the faith, the approach, that’s when the religious importance of these places dawned on me. If one considers the historical circumstances, the rise of Christianity and the objective, then it probably makes sense, else art in Europe was only about scale, Christianity and realism. In retrospect I feel architecturally they were more successful, the sense of space they created with the grandness of the majestic structures are palpitating, but the expressions and the realism of the sculptures get a little monotonous.
Rome with all its stories had always fascinated me and it lived up to its image… it has an aura with the ruins of structures lying here and there. It makes you imagine the life then and connect with the past but Vatican was most disappointing… I had imagined the Sistine chapel to be completely mesmerizing as you see in the books (probably because the picture is only of the ceiling and doesn’t give you the overall idea of space) but when I entered, there were large frescos all over the room not leaving an inch of space to let any of it sink in. Drifting with the wave of tourists from different parts of the world we entered St Peters Basilica. I had still not got over my reaction to The Sistine chapel…and I stood there with my eyes wide and mouth open… WOW!! it was grand, beautiful and rich…there were large sculptures everywhere, frescos, paintings, stucco work, gold, silver, guess everything packed under one roof, I felt confused but couldn’t pin point the reason then I thought of the purpose behind the church and thought of its religious significance… unconsciously I wondered if I was in a palace or a church…with such grandness and rich beauty who would think of god? Wasn’t god preaching minimalism, letting go and feeling light? There was so much for your mind to absorb there that one never thinks of god, of spirituality or of letting go…The only thing that made me feel light were the high ceilings with an opening from where the sunlight was streaming in and beautiful frescos surrounding that opening. The light was giving them a very soft, dreamy look, almost making you feel like its there that the gods reside…and then again I looked down around me and the huge sculptures and painting were staring at the ‘little’ me, overpowering, I had to look away. There were these little areas of respite from that feeling of being surrounded, the extensive use of gold mosaic tiles in specific areas of the church (especially in the historic church in Venice and in some places in Florence) though it was of course used to show the wealth, glitter and the goodness around God, it also created a very divine, meaningful and conceptual look. Unfortunately the other sculptures around it completely overpowered that little glimmer of hope and happiness. I also have to mention here that in some countries in Europe there were these small square stones fixed in the ground in a pattern around the old city almost uniting and enhancing the main historic buildings of importance, burnished with time and rounded around the corners by people walking over them for hundreds of centuries, it was overwhelming to walk on the same ground, touching the same stones, walking the same path that the great rulers and intellectuals of that time must have done…so many centuries ago…
Well in most historical churches of Rome, Vatican and Venice I felt the discomfort and the weight of standing in front of GOD esp. in the Vatican. Everywhere you are surrounded by these huge sculptures with expressions that only remind you of the misery they went through instead of getting inspired to live from the preaching of Christ. I had never felt like this in any church before… the core of Christianity was not this… Its like you are being judged…and have to obey to everything because the self sacrificing Christ and his followers suffered for you… here forgiveness and accepting pain was glorified but the understanding of a deeper reason to suffer and forgive gets lost… you only try and being a human, try very hard to adhere to that what is glorified…rather than understand the reason behind the glorification. It felt like God was judging me, something I never felt in my connections with God ever. It was always like he was there beside me to help me walk no matter what… connecting, conversing, inspiring and sharing my life. Never judging overpowering or dominating… somehow God and his abode were made so overpowering that your connection with him on a spiritual level never grows.
Some modern churches were way better… more simplified, with more empty spaces inspiring you to sit and connect to the invisible power… not underline Power. I was told that was because of the difference between the Roman Catholics and Protestants and their sub divisions…naturally if the belief shifts the approach would change as well…
Amongst all these confusions I spotted ‘Pieta’ in St. Peters basilica and it was beautiful, totally breathtaking…sitting quietly in one corner it made you forget about everything thing else that’s around, all the large sculptures, frescos and wealth, you connect with it in an instant not religiously but as a work of art. To get that kind of expression the artist really has to be connected and be involved in his work…I was amazed…when you compare it with the other sculptures there, the difference in the depth of the expression was clearly visible… a commissioned work for the church, a moment picked up from the history but u can see the dialogue between the artist and his work… a friend rightly said “Great artists have always woven subtext into their art that may be inaccessible even to their own patrons” and that’s what made Michelangelo great…
Its amazing to see the difference of approach in the east and the west. The circumstances were different and the kind of variety that touched the Indian subcontinent due to so many different rulers and their faiths and the assimilation of their cultures along with the one that existed became the reason for the grounded richness. Another difference was that the east was connected very strongly with nature and the west looked at the ideal body for a long long time… therefore the depth of abstract was absent in the west and it surfaced very interestingly in their modern period after the invention of the camera. I ended up more fascinated by the art of their modern times…it was nothing like what I saw in the books… the play of volume, size, medium and texture was used again in a different time but the concepts and the use of allegory and metaphor made all the difference… naturally there were no limitations of religious stories… they explored the possibilities of the senses to its utmost limit…
In the olden times, for the east the disciple’s connection with the supreme power was more important and nature played a very important role in its depiction of the supreme power. That’s what made places like Ajanta, Khajuraho, Konark, etc or even earlier on, Bagh caves very spiritual and sublime. One is completely lost in the magical aura of Ajanta. It was a place meant for religion and the practice of it with no outwardly appearance of any grand God, whether it is Konark temple or Kailashnath in Ellora, scale was important but the lyricism of the beautiful world created by the gods and space to connect to that world is given equal importance…Very down to earth and with its serene beauty it takes you somewhere deep inside the figures without you noticing the anatomy but experiencing the feeling of that expression.
The irony is that in today’s times in the west the churches even though built very early in time are considered the base of religious power, and being used for practicing the faith despite its overpowering feel. Whereas in the Indian subcontinent the structures and temples which exude spiritual energies are alive only in its historical context, while the structures that are used as Gods abode have turned into commercial places of religious significance where you’d be lucky if you even get a glimpse of the idol let alone your time to connect with him or feel the space…