An artist says “look at this”, gently directing our view to something specific, to see just the way they see; and feel what they feel. In this way they want you to connect on a deeper level, and to converse with you. Art is a means to make the viewer look at familiar things in a different perspective.
Tag: thoughts
Musings raked from personal journal
perspective
Audience of One
Even if my work is understood by just one person in the world, that is enough. What truly matters is someone who connects deeply on a spiritual and emotional level. One gentle soul who feels that connection, not through words but through silence. In that moment, all the effort and purpose of the work is fulfilled.
On freedom and the burden of choice
I value autonomy: the freedom to choose one’s own path, free from coercion or influence. This freedom is integral and forms the core of my values. This comes with a cost; the choices are mine and so is the blame. Some decisions are irreversible.
To choose one’s own path is to carry both the upside and the failures without excuse. It is easier to follow someone else’s path, to direct the blame when things fall apart. But true autonomy offers no such excuse. It asks for vulnerability and courage: to face regrets, failures, and still to say: this life is mine.
Faded
Those friends I once studied, worked with, people I had known so closely, now feel distant – lost in time. I remember those relationships as if they were from another lifetime, faded like a forgotten dream. We drifted apart, our choices have taken us in different directions.
Some connections served their time and dissolved.
As I grow older, I realize it isn’t just distance that separates us, but also our ideologies and values. Perhaps some friendships are not meant to endure, and it’s gentler to let them go; slowly drifting away. Those attempts to revive them didn’t endure.
Like a chapter in a book, perhaps they were meant to last only that long. Some connections served their time and dissolved.
man+machine
I’m grateful to have discovered algorithmic trading. It has given structure and logic to what once felt like a chaotic process. I now see a framework where each step is governed by logic and reason.
That discipline is something I always aspired to embody, but could rarely sustain as a human being. Now I have a partner in the machine, one that reflects back the kind of reasoning I value: precise, methodical, and rational.
The sheer capacity of machines fascinates me: it can perform thousands of calculations, checks and balances every second, every minute, every hour, without pause. They don’t get tired. They don’t lose focus.
For me, there has been a tectonic shift in the decision-making flow. There’s a ruthless precision in every move. It follows logic, uncompromised by moods or emotions that often derail human judgment: fear, greed, frustration, or stress.
All said and done, a machine is only as reliable as the logic it is programmed with. What it offers me is not perfection, but consistency—a steady presence, an assurance that it has my back when my own judgement is clouded by emotion.
Intentional Living
We live in a time where worth is measured by outcome, efficiency, and scale. That erodes the inner dignity of labour. Doing the smallest task with full presence, and thereby imbuing it with dignity and meaning. This shift in mindset—“what I do matters, however small”—restores meaning.
That’s where intensity arises: from a willingness to commit fully to this brushstroke, this canvas, this conversation, rather than diffusing oneself into everything at once.
Intentional living, for me, is about conscious attention. The opposite of being pulled along by speed, distraction, or habit. I have deep respect for the artisan who works with care and devotion, a singular unwavering focus, as if it is the only thing in the world.
Intentionality is less about slowing down for the sake of slowness, and more about living intensely in the moment—with full heart, mind, and spirit. For me, that’s where dignity and purpose live.
obscurity
At the personal level, many painters carry traits that steer them away from publicity. Introversion, perfectionism, or fear of ridicule can make exhibitions feel threatening and interviews unbearable.
This fear of public scrutiny could burrow deep and ruin with self-sabotage. The realisation that intense exposure could distance them from the very thing that keeps it authentic. An ideal scenario would be that an artist works in obscurity but is completely outside the sphere of influence or scrutiny. A feat rarely achieved by artist.
These hesitations are amplified by cultural narratives that equate obscurity with authenticity. Since the nineteenth‑century slogan “art for art’s sake,” bohemian subcultures have elevated the unrecognised artist to heroic status, casting commercial success as moral compromise. Van Gogh’s posthumous image established the modern template: the misunderstood genius who dies poor yet triumphant in integrity.
Artistic reputation is never built alone; it relies on dense networks of curators, critics, peers, and collectors. Painters who juggle care work, battle social marginalisation, or simply lack time for networking miss the informal circuits where opportunities circulate.
Acceptance
The ability to see things as they are: ones age, limitations, regrets, the road behind and the road ahead; without denial, embellishment, or self-deception. “Acceptance” is one of the most powerful forces in a meaningful life, especially when facing moments like a mid-life crisis.
Acceptance isn’t passivity. It’s not resignation. It’s clarity without illusion. To see reality as it is. To free oneself to live this actual life, with all its limitations, beauty, and rawness.
Acceptance is not giving up, it’s growing up. It redefines strength.
It allows grief to do its work. At mid-life, you grieve:
Unlived lives
Past regrets
Faded youth
Failed expectations
The death of certain dreams
Acceptance gives you the permission to grieve what won’t return, and begin building what still can.
Wisdom
The most profound and wise thing to say is “I don’t know”. It requires true humility to realise the fact there are many things beyond our understanding.
Beauty
“Beauty will save the world”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot
What is beauty? And what does it mean?
Dostoyevsky here must be referring to a redeeming quality of beauty that is deeper than mere aesthetics. He must be talking about truth and goodness. What does the world lack that it necessitates saving?
Does he consider the world corrupt and broken from its ways, of God’s original design? He must be referring to men and women than the world they inhabit. He must be referring to the way humans have exploited and driven themselves into corruption.
So, beauty here might be either an innate inscription deep within the hearts or something that pierces us from outside. Beauty might be something or someone outside a human system. Beauty might be a light that illuminates the path, open our eyes to what is true and good. It must have a redemptive nature. Without which, we would spiral into chaos and destruction.
What is true and good must be beautiful. Is it possible for something to be beautiful yet be against truth or goodness? Can something mimic radiance only to lead us astray?
What is a photograph
A photograph is an artefact that is frozen in time. It always represents a moment in the past, beginning from the time it is recorded. It could be yesterday, the last decade or a generation. It becomes a time capsule saved for future.
A photograph is meant to record a life event, a place, a relationship which we want to cherish and reminiscence. It is a window to the past, tethered to a day or place that matters the most. It awakens diverse emotions; nostalgia, longing, joy, heartache, contentment.
A photograph offers solace to this life of constant change and degeneration. That past is always blissful, endearing. We stay young, beautiful and cared for. It takes us back to the times with fewer regrets. We were innocent and unaware of the pain we would go through. A time we wish we could go back to undo the wrongs.
Why I write
To heal a fragmented mind ravaged by the digital age
to embrace the potency of written word,
to start at the root of communication,
to know the mind of the person writing this,
to give shape to those scattered pieces of the subconscious,
a face and a name to those inner demons,
and a stash for those fragile memories
above all to think, feel deeply and live consciously;
a visually inclined man making an acquaintance with the word
What does writing do to the self?
a journey to the essence of thought
for a word as a means of inflicting emotion
in hope that writing will transform oneself from the inside
[[writing]] [[art]]
Two
Two roads
Two pills
Two eyes
Two halves of a brain
Two sides of a coin
Two poles of the earth
Day & Night
Man & Woman
Mind & Heart
Faith & Reason
Duality, Dichotomy, Paradox
The tension and the fusion between two seemingly opposite entities. What makes two a figure of extremes and a whole; all at once?
Listening
A truly good conversation gives us something to think about; it presents a new thought process, and a different perspective.
Being a good listener means one is open minded, curious and humble. The conversation has to be about the other, not about oneself. Listening isn’t just about words, but of the hidden cues, the emotions rolling under the surface. A conversation can happen without a word. Silence speaks a thousand words in an instant.
Humility, in conversations, would mean to accept that one doesn’t know it all. There is a whole lot to be learned from someone. There is a different perspective to be understood from years of experience in this thing called life. They have fought a different battle that we don’t know nothing about. There might be many stories to be heard.
[[Narcissists]] would put their entire attention when the discussion centers around them; and then quickly lose interest when the discussion goes elsewhere.
Masks we wear
Every human has a dark side hidden under the surface. We wear masks that warp perceptions of who we truly are. The words and actions speak different things. The wider the gap, the darker the hidden side is. Some are able to fuse these two identities remarkably well. So much so, without conflict or even cognisance of this existence.
A person of integrity is someone whose actions speaks the words. When there is unison with the words, thought and actions, there is a harmony. One should ‘listen‘ to the behaviour. Appearances are deceptive.
In politics, diplomatic relations are contrived. What the person speaks is different from what he or she does. And these [masks] are even more prominent here. They are made of swarms. They are a legion.
On Art
Art is deeply personal to me. I want my life to be surrounded with art
For now, I’d view art making as a personal pursuit. As a therapy. Or as a way a child would approach. With deep involvement. Art for the sake of it.
This might seem self-centered. However, that’s how I can set out.
I want to create art for myself. This is not meant to appease anyone. This will hang on my wall for whatever time it takes.
What is art?
What makes art good?
What adds meaning to art?
Art should be democratic and accessible to everyone.
Greatest art is when it can communicate the immense wisdom in an instant.
Art should be functional. If no body understands it, then it is not effective art.
Art should have a soul in it. It should reflect the immense beauty of nether world.
Art is not for art’s sake. Art has a higher purpose.
Art should not be ugly and morbid, unless there is a higher intention.
Art should not shy away from exploring the painful
Art can wound us and open us from the inside.
Art can be therapeutic and edifying.
Art should not cause malice.
Art should reflect the truth, beauty and goodness.
Art is forever.
Art points to the depths of eternal truths.
Art doesn’t have to appeal to everyone.
Art is the release of the innermost thoughts, desires, anguish, human connections, acceptance of mortality,
Art is a way to communicate to others things which are way subtle to convey otherwise.
The greatest work of art comes from wrestling with the void, facing it instead of scrambling to make it go away. Artist works quietly in the corner. They turn their inner turmoil into the product. The only relationship between work and chatter is that one kills the other.
Art is an axe for the frozen sea inside us.
Franz Kafka
Art should be democratic and accessible to everyone.
Greatest art is when it can communicate the immense wisdom in an instant.
Art should be functional. If no body understands it, then it is not effective art.
Art should have a soul in it. It should reflect the immense beauty of nether world.
Art is not for art’s sake. Art has a higher purpose.
Art should not be ugly and morbid, unless there is a higher intention.
Art should not shy away from exploring the painful
Art can wound us and open us from the inside.
Art can be therapeutic and edifying.
What is art for?
Art is a means of communication
Infecting others with emotions
Make others feel the intended emotions
Art coveys things that words can’t
Art points to those troughs and peaks which point to infinity
Language lacks the means of conveying the depths of emotions.
Art points to the infinite.
Art sustains us.
Art can heal us.
Art makes us more human.
Art provides catharsis.
Art is spiritually inclined.
Art is about human experience.
The purpose of Art is to prepare a man for death.
Andrei Tarkovsky
Art exists to convey and share the feelings of
Sadness
Relief
Pleasure
Gratitude
Remorse
Nostalgia
Human condition
Fears
Love
Beauty