Picture of the Day: Chennai

Construction

Substitute Reality

I got this picture in Bangkok at the Golden Buddha Temple. Its an image of a model of the temple and its environs. After the opulence and intricacies of the royal palaces, the ’emerald Buddha’ temple and other sights in Bangkok, this came as welcome relief.

There are a number of artists practicing what I call ‘substitute realism’ where they make and then photograph models. I like Thomas Demand, Lori Nix and Bill Armstrong.

Picture of the Day

At the temple of the reclining Buddha, Bangkok

In and around Chennai: Fort St. George

I took a friend over to see Fort St. George. This was only my second visit there and the first time inside the museum’s portrait gallery. There is a Raja Ravi Varma oil immediately to the left as you enter. But its the room itself that impresses.

Just inside the museum, Cornwallis and Willingdon tower over mere mortals.

Lots of other interesting prints and models and artifacts. I may have even learned something new. I really should make an effort to go see many more of the museums and historic sites in and around Chennai.

Abstract is Evil

I’ve been wondering about abstraction.

In general, I love abstract ideas and art. But I also prefer non-fiction to fiction. I prefer travel to movies and video games.

Its interesting to look at the ‘definition’ of abstraction on Wikipedia. And in a dictionary.

I find the simplicity of abstraction powerful and impactful. And therein lies abstraction’s potential for evil, I suppose. By abstracting war, news and video games make it feel like any other sporting event, only with the score being kept with the number of dead. By abstracting complex policies and issues into sound bites, the mainstream media does everyone a disservice by (over)simplifying the debate.

I enjoy the experience of abstraction. Both as creator and observer. When I started photographing seriously, I was very much into abstraction (here’s a sample). Recently though its been a lot more anchored in reality. Why the shift? A lot of this has to do with the surfeit of abstraction in every day life … in the news especially.

I suppose one can think of the last decade as the ‘abstract decade’.

Some of it has to do with the move to India and all of the recent travel. 

I hope that the next one is a lot more reality-based and that we take the time to think about the complex issues that are with us and around us.

Here’s wishing everyone a really real and wonderful new decade!

P.S. I am halfway through Gurcharan Das’ book ‘The Difficulty of Being Good‘ and it has an interesting take on abstraction and realism.

Color

I love color.

Don’t get me wrong – I love my black and white – but color draws out the best emotions in me.

A couple of weeks ago I got a great big dose of color in Mysore.

First at the Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe just outside Mysore, Karnataka, and then at the Lalitha Mahal Palace.

The color inside the Golden Temple in Bylakuppe was very peaceful.

The color at the palace was full of action (the TED India party was there).

And here’s one from the TED India sessions. They had several beautiful saris as the backdrop to the stage. This is the negative of one of the shots I took of the backdrop. I like it better than the original.

Here’s more of my photos from the recent trip to Mysore and TED India.

Now, I am just a dilettante when it comes to color but there are a lot of serious artists who explore color in interesting ways. I really like what Rob and Nick Carter do with their ‘light paintings’. And Tim Bavington translates music to color.  Of course, the grandmaster of color is James Turrell.

Picture Of The Day

Well, it’s about time …

… I started a blog. Why? It seems like the right time given that I’m going to be starting a new life soon. The move is almost done. I hope to start blogging in earnest in October. Here’s hoping that I have something interesting to say.