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Nothing fishy Mermaids, seahorses and lotuses

“My paintings are not about the real sea. It is about the conflict between the worldly life and the inner world. We adjust to the world according to the situation while the inner life is free and a person is at his own liberty to enjoy it,” says Krishna Ashok.

Using a few symbols from the sea but without using the mythology associated with it, Ashok creates the worlds that are so close to each other yet so different. Pointing to a mermaid he says: “Half of the image is like a human that symbolical of this world and the other half suggests the inner world. The reality is a blend of the two.”

But why acrylic on paper? “Acrylic on paper has that bubbly effervescent quality. To achieve the same thing on a canvas, it would require a massive canvas,” says the artist.

If the fishes float around the feminine form, there is that jarring parrot or the lotus that reminds the viewer of the conscious use of these as symbols.

Using geometrical patterns and flowing lines imbued with colours Ashok creates the figurative forms.

With a series of baleful eyes, he twists the meaning of fish-eyed beauty. There is an ironic twist to the elemental about the colours that Ashok uses for his series. Instead of the blue of water, Ashok uses earthy hues. Embeded in these colours you have to search for the meaning.

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