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"My art is my search for the moments beyond the ones of self knowledge. It is the rhythmic fantasy; a restless streak which looks for its own fulfillment! A stillness that moves within! An intense search for my origin and ultimate identity". - Meena

Meena Chopra - Poetry and Art

Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts

Thursday 14 July 2022

A grand poetry and art evening NOWA at Beaux Arts Brampton

 

Visit website: www.meenachopra.art

Living with Wellness - Community Ambassador Spotlight

 

Visit: www.meenachopra.art 

For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com 


Thank you Mississauga for selecting me for the Civic Award for Arts - 2022

 

 

 

website: www.meenachopra.art

For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/

Thursday 22 April 2021

Check out Meena Chopra's art on OpenSea #NFTS #digitalart

#NFTS #digitalart

 

 

For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist

Friday 12 July 2019

THE NAKED ME: Nudity, Sensuality & Sexuality in Art - Connecting Skin to the Corium and the Corium to the Centre

 Connecting Skin to the Corium and the Corium to the Centre

(Art in dialogue)
     “We know that the nude form, more so female nude form is inherently sensual, specifically to the male eye, but an experienced artistic eye of any gender, caste or creed would surely perceive much more in it, which would complement the skin and the corium of the art with its inner core”
  THE NAKED ME as published in Generally About Books
and published on my blog Meena's Artworld

SHE! The Restless Streak

The materiality of the unclad, bare human body has been close to the imagination and interest of almost every artist down the ages, substantiating the core of multi-layered timeless cyclic continuity of life, depicting the energetic static naked reality at the base of the ever-flowing lifestream. 
The dauntless, gutsy and determined effort of un-layering and uncovering has more to do in coming to terms with the hidden reality of the self, claiming, confronting and accepting the starkness beneath and showcasing it to the world while searching the eventual reality as the intrinsic purpose of any art.  

Either consciously or subconsciously, at some stage of any artist’s career, this reality surfaces to the foreground. This is certainly true for any other art practices or forms such as, realistic, abstract, still life, nature study, or any other creative form such as creative writing, music, dance, and theatre, as all these rise intuitively from the same unchallenged and undeniable substratum of the mind. 

The question that recently came up, on the semi-abstract nude series of mine, from some authoritative entities in arts was, whether sexuality was on my mind when making this semi-nude series? While for some the first reaction to my series of paintings was that these were ‘hot’, for some others it was ‘sensual’ which was understandable.  Some even suggested categorizing this series as ‘Sexual Art’.  

It surprised and puzzled me. We know that the nude form, more so female nude form is sensual specifically to the male eye, but an experienced artistic eye of any gender, caste or creed would surely perceive much more in it, which would complement the skin and the corium of the art with its inner core. 

This led me to analyze how a North American art viewer is viewing, perceiving, discerning and reacting to ‘this nude figurative series of my recent work’ named SHE! The Restless Streak, and, for that matter, any art in general. 
Especially so in North American settings where the art and its exposure are developing and it is still in its nascent stage, even now in the first quarter of the 21st century, in comparison to the other European and Eastern civilizations, with a history of mature artistic sensibilities. 

It’d be pertinent to point out at this stage that a semi-abstract nude sculpture of mine was also denied entry into an art exhibit in 2005 at Novotel Hotel by Mississauga Arts Council. At a later date, the then Executive Director of Mississauga Arts Council – MAC, especially arranged to put a show of my smaller works of seminude series as part of Culture Days/Doors Open Celebrations at Sampradaya Art Creations in 2014. 
This was an individual and personal effort from her because she felt that this series needed a display and an audience even though they were semi nudes. At present, it is being showcased at MindSpace in Erin Mills Town Centre, again through MAC).  

Even in 2015, a curator refused to display these paintings even in a gallery setting in Heritage Mississauga, but later when I showed these works to the gallery in charge and the historian of Heritage Mississauga, he seemed to have no objections at an individual level. 
The entire series of SHE! The Restless Streak, when brought to the Mississauga library’s display gallery for the final showcasing in September 2018, the newly appointed art coordinator seemed shocked and the reaction was that these cannot be displayed because nudity is not accepted. 

She was new and unaware that one artwork out of these series received 1st prize from Visual Arts Mississauga in 2017 and was already displayed in the Mississauga Library Gallery previously.  Only when she confirmed it with senior management about this approved show, she permitted the display.  She commented that the government-funded organization in Canada, where she previously worked, had strict rules and such art could not be displayed. 
 
My question is: Is this mindset able to really reach to the art beyond the certain dermal levels?
This provoked my thoughts further about how a North American viewer is grasping and reacting to the art in general with its quintessence inherent spirit?

To the question of whether the sexuality was on my mind while making this art, leads to a few more questions that have little to do with art and more to do with preconceived notions. Does that mean to the viewer that, if I or anyone else, when painting a fully clad ‘Virgin Mary’ or a ‘religious figure’ should be having devout feelings and thoughts? 
The fundamental question then is: Does the artist always have to compromise with the pressures of the market, the forces of social prejudices and state generated institutionalized rules supporting these prejudices, instead of bringing education and true understanding of arts? 

I know of many artists who have their nude artworks lying or hidden in their studios and do not display them, merely to avoid the unnecessary controversies that may arise from such displays. But at the same time, some of them do take a chance of displaying such works wherever it is possible. 

I believe it is the responsibility of the ‘state’ and state-funded art institutions and organizations to play an active role in giving arts a mature direction for homogeneous development of arts in the present social structure. I’d even lay special emphasis on the state’s role in creating the right atmosphere for young to better understand and accept art and self beyond its surface.

Art rises from the restless and veiled inner creative impulse that desire to be unveiled, to be expressed at the conscious levels of life. It then adorns itself with the rich skin of the artistic language of forms, colors, gestures, sound, or voice using various mediums and outlets, while embodying the expressions rising from the extreme depths of profound experiences.

It is a condition, where the subject (the inspired mind) and the object (the creative outcome), come close to each other and experience is generated, where the artist gets synchronized with the art created in a totality and unity of the inspiring moments.  Creativity comes out of certain areas of madness where nothing else really matters but that the moment needs to be expanded in the time zone.

The impact of the art created draws the spectator towards the profundity of the artistic vision and takes that spectator beyond the ephemeral. (the spectator can be the experiencer of the ‘beyond' through the artistic object as much as the artist).
 
During the creative process, the artistic journey of the artist is upwards and outwards from the centre, seeking the light of the day with the heat of the internalized creative fire, thereby giving the art authenticity and credibility to the revealed reality from beneath or the centre core while down reaching within.

This occurs through the creation, re-creation and resurfacing of images, motifs and symbols by the artist. Concepts and themes at the dermal-level can vary in one’s art and creative work but what gives it the innate quality and validity is its ability to draw the deepest unconscious hidden value behind the object of the art.

This process can be highly instinctive and can come through deep meditative gravity and at times through cryptomnesic fleeting moments. 

Here I would like to point out and stress upon the known fact, that historically, nudity in art is common to Eastern and European cultures. This includes Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Italian and French pre and post-renaissance, impressionism also ancient Greece and many others.

Nudity in art is prevalent in ancient and modern art of Indian subcontinent and other Eastern countries. Even gods and deities in chapels and temples are artistically sculpted, carved, drawn and painted in nude much earlier in time, even before Christ and centuries back. Do we then call all that art sexual? 

In general, the origin of these questions and statements being genuine and spontaneous from the viewers, perhaps significantly show and corroborate the perceived notion of North American society’s firm belief in its ‘claimed and persistent linear progress in its evolutionary stride’ where the ‘product and its consumption’ is the prime reality of life and becomes a standard to be lived by and is being extended even to the fine arts to most cases.

To discerning minds, fine art remains to be a way of ‘search’ and therefore a way to ‘rich life’ beyond the essentiality of capitalism and consumerism and more so as subjective unity of the artistic vision, union, and its experience.  Whereas, the very foundation of North American society is based on the production and its consumption.   

This is highly contradictory and contrary to the artistic instincts and experiences and is paradoxical in general to the art world and to the value and worth of  ‘fine arts’ beyond the notion and scope of the convergence of popular culture and fine art. Fine art gives you a pragmatic rounded experience, which has no parallel to the consumerist materialistic values.  

Process of understanding, arts comes through delving within and then rising from the deepness, while creating a union and a bond with the artistic work. I feel this exercise happens spontaneously, both for the viewer and the artist, even though not acknowledged and felt instantly.

There is a little scope of ‘linearity’ in ‘fine arts’ as art is not a ‘product’ but a ‘consequence’ of the inmost and the unfathomable.   It is a complete rounded experience. I must admit that it has made me a little cautious and prudent now of the environment around even after my seventeen years in Canada. The only satisfaction has been that, at least, these artworks were evoking certain feelings and interest even though at a transient and preliminary level.  
I also felt that it becomes necessary to generate a feeling to develop an attitude which goes beyond treating art as not just a product but more as a way of life, right at the basic levels of education.

I feel it is important for us to observe life not only as of the linearity of the existence but also going beyond and observing it in a cyclic mode of time as well, which is already set by the law of nature.

This is imperative if we in North America are ambitious and have to come in near comparison with European, Asian and Eastern artistic cultures, also in becoming and claiming ourselves as an artistically developed society in the future.  If this could be achieved only then we can claim that we are in a position to truly advocate and to be true proponents of arts in North America. 

As an immigrant artist from developing world of the Indian subcontinent with its profound ancient artistic civilization where ‘nudity’ in art is of little consequence, ideally my expectation is to have a better acceptance and a broader attitude of any such artistic practices in Canada.

The truth remains, that the artistic vision, its expression and evolution through the ages has emerged and caused by the interplay and dynamics of two subtle formative energies of life (male and female). Art is the outcome of the tension between cause and effect, the negative and the positive energies.

These cosmogenic energies, which are the basis of artistic creation, rotating the world around us, are fugacious to the conscious mind. One must be sagacious and daring enough to delve into them and live with them to understand them. No art or creative effort is complete without sexuality in broad terms. Same is true for the religion also. As said earlier, nudity in art is not new and a lot has been said and written about it. 

As for me and for my personal journey as an artist, it is the dynamics of subtle female energy that continuously fascinates and captivates my mind for some unknown reason. There is an internal need and pressure to explore it. The mind at that point in time, when creating an artwork, gets totally engrossed and occupied with the mediums, form, strokes and colour, etc. It is a meditative mood, rounded with pensive moments.

The same is true, when the mind gets immersed while creating the abstraction and any other type and forms in art. The underlying thematic idea continues to be ‘genesis’ in all my styles, with a predominant undercurrent of subtle and evolving female energy. 

This truly gives a definite meaningful condition and determined direction to my art and life as a whole. I find all creation in fine arts to be related to instincts with the unquestionable and undeniable prevalence of sexuality in nature because of its roots in the interplay of positive and negative spiritedness,  but not necessarily only in its physical, corporeal and fleshy level but in its firm and solid roots in the genesis and in evolution and dissolution of the entire cosmic dance. 

As  Kahlil Gibran says:
"Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful. And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harness and a chain. Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment, For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind. Some of you say, "It is the north wind who has woven the clothes we wear. "And I say, Ay, it was the north wind, But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread. And when his work was done he laughed in the forest. Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean. And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind? And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair".  


Meena Chopra is   a Toronto based author, artist.  She writes poetry both in English and Hindi. Born and raised in North India, she now lives in Mississauga

website: https://www.meenachopra.art/

Thursday 4 October 2018

Meena Chopra’s Book Launch & Art Exhibition @TAGTV Special Report …




For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist

Tuesday 21 February 2017

Introducing Mandala Art Workshop at AWIC Community and Social Services




For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist

Artworks - EYES




For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist

Saturday 21 November 2015

Help Develop Ontario's First Culture Strategy





Help Develop Ontario's First Culture Strategy
Posted by CROSS CURRENTS - Indo canadian International Arts on Friday, November 20, 2015


For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist

Monday 23 February 2015

Joy


For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist
#art
#canart +Art Omega +Pallavi Arts  +anil purohit  +Dr.Anita Kapoor +anoop kohli +Poetic Art Studio +The Painting, Poetry and Art of Randall Anthony Jonas / Randall Jonas  +Paintography  +Arc Poetry Magazine +Bhupinder Virdi +Meena Chopra +Meena Chopra  +StarBuzz StarBuzzOnline +Sangeeta Gupta 

Saturday 21 February 2015

Exuberance




For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist
#CanArt #Art

Saturday 20 September 2014

"How Art Creates the Artist" A Return Visit to Carl Jung's Vision of an Artist -By Katherine Yurica

For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist

Saturday 13 September 2014

Art & Poetry


For my poetry kindly Visit: English: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com Hindi: http://ignitedlines.blogspot.com/ website: http://meenachopra17.wix.com/meena-chopra-artist

Saturday 9 August 2014


Dancing Eternity

Monday 7 April 2014

Exuberance(from Facebook)

Saturday 6 April 2013

Art and its incredible effects on mind - An insight

Author: Meena Chopra
Art House for Kids-Art as healer has always improved the quality of life and mind giving a third dimension to the human personality in many ways. Art is a beautiful thing to be enjoyed, and knowing the powers it can have on the human mind is certainly an added bonus.

Music, dance, painting and other forms of art have shown to have an incredibly significant and positive effect on children and adults both.. 

Starry Night by Van Gogh

 

Art therapy has been used to awaken the senses of underprivileged children through both the viewing and creating of art by them.Through their artistic endeavours they subconsciously associate themselves with their past. The memories come more freely since they are not elicited by direct objects, but indirect thought instead. 



Sun Flower by Van Gogh

 

Due to many past experiences many children begin to develop nervousness, anxiety, sleeping excessive or too little, a lack of verbal, social and language skills. Many times depending on the color within a piece, or may be some other quality of the artwork, different emotions can be evoked by the observer unknowingly. Awakening of the senses through experimentation with the different types of art these children experience an untapped emotional world within themselves and with this association with their own inner being, they are able to show increased abilities in their cognitive, motor and social skills. 

Many of the most famous pieces in the Pop art movement have utilized popular advertisements that could be easily tied to past memories. Pop art is known very well for its use of bright, vibrant colors. 

Piccaso - Woman with Fan

Pop art is specifically tied to nostalgic thoughts since many of these works utilize old comics, food wrappers, advertisements and other types of art that people may recognize from past events in their lives.  Pop art is especial useful in helping evoke past memories and gain insight through the use of bright colors. Nostalgic undertones emotions and feelings surrounding past events can be easily conjured up through the study of Pop art.


According to a 2010 study conducted by researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine, viewing paintings as opposed to photographs of similar objects evoked more of a sense of reward within the brain. Participants in the study were shown pieces from different artists such as Van Gogh and Picasso, and then they were showed photographs that depicted very similar objects. When they studied the brains of the participants through imaging technology, the ventrial striatum, which is part of the reward system, became more strongly activated when the participant saw a painting rather then a photograph of a similar object. Even if only momentarily, the memories they experience have shown to increase positive moods and improve their quality of life.

Pop art, for example, impacts different people in different ways. Clearly different aspects of art and the participation in the arts can have a profound and positive effect on the human mind. Most forms of art are able to impact the human mind in one way or another.With its strong ties to commercial consumerism and found art, it is easy to evoke emotion in someone when utilizing the properties of Pop art. But Pop art is not the only type of art that can be used to help stimulate areas of the brain and help in the process of resolving issues. 

Beatles
Bright yellows often evoke a feeling of happiness, which is a very common color in Pop art pieces. For example, if someone is dealing with a childhood trauma, memories from childhood can help them figure out exactly what happened and how to move past it.
Utilizing pop art to delve into past memories can be very therapeutic for many different reasons. Alzheimer's patients are often involved in music therapy, which has shown to help them recover and reconnect with past memories therefore acting as a healer and giving a positive impact to the mind towards their improvement and well being .  

What is most important is to explore the impact art has on the human mind and figure out how to positively harness the impact and minimize any negativity.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Strangers


Drawing by Meena
Oil Pastels on paper
In the day's heat
I sought myself in you.
Strangers we were, still are
silhouettes in each other's eyes.
Remnants of a deflected time.
Monotony
Nonexistence is
claustrophobic.

1 fear remaining an outline.

Your warmth lingers
uncaptured,
fading into opacity.

1 know 1 will burn
till the fire burns in me.

From "IGNITED LINES"

Monday 2 July 2012

ओस की एक बूँद - The Dewdrop - Oas ki Ek Boond

ओस में डूबता अंतरिक्ष
विदा ले रहा है
अँधेरों पर गिरती तुषार
और कोहरों की नमी से।

और यह बूँद न जाने
कब तक जियेगी
इस लटकती टहनी से
जुड़े पत्ते के आलिंगन में।

धूल में जा गिरी तो फिर
मिट के जाएगी कहाँ?

ओस की एक बूँद
बस चुकी है कब की

मेरे व्याकुल मन में।
-© Meena Chopra (above drawing is by Meena Chopra)
- From upcoming collection 'Subeh ka Suraj ab Mera Nahin Hai'.

Oas me doobata antariksh
bida le raha hai andharon per girti tushar
aur koharon ki namee se
aur yeh boond kab tak jiyegi
is latakti tahani se jude patte ke alingan me
dhool me ja giri to phir mit ke jayegi kahan
aus ki ek boond bas chuki hai kabaki
mere wyakul man me.


(Transcreation)
The Dewdrop

The dewdrop
Submerged the universe.
departed
the misty
damp cold nights
Hugged
A fresh and short lived leaf.
Clung to the suspended branch,
A life span.

What is the chance ?
Will it last?
If it falls
on the grounded dust
in a final thrust.
Vanishing ever.

Yet it yearns,
Stilling the beats
Ceasing -
As it never did.!





- Meena Chopra

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Memories of Space - शून्य की परछाईं

All the stars
engulfed in silence
trying to grab
the hands of futility.
The day explodes.
Whiteness spills
the residues of
the waning moon.
Death of the night
is still alive
in the memories of space.
- Meena Chopra


(Transcreation)
सितारों में लीन हो चुके हैं स्याह सन्नाटे
ख़लाओं को हाथों में थामें
दिन फूट पड़ा है लम्हा - लम्हा
रोशनी को अपनी
ढलती चाँदनी की चादर पर बिखराता
अंधेरों की गहरी मौत
शून्य की परछाईं में धड़कती है अब तक
जिंदा है
न जाने कब से —
न जाने कब तक
- Meena Chopra


(Above drawing by Meena Chopra)
sitaron me leen ho chuke hain syah sannate
khalaon ko haathon me thame
din phoot pada hai lamha - lamha
roshanee ko apani
dhalti chandani ki chaader per bikhrata.
andhoron ki maut
shunya ki parchhaien me
dhadakati hai ab tak
zinda hai
na jane kab se -
na jane kab tak!
(above drawing by Meena Chopra)

Sunday 13 May 2012

Dreams



Dreams
tumble from
unknown heights
into a dark pit
devoured by
the hunger for light.

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