Brushstrokes that represent the light within

The first glance at one of the paintings from A Piece Of Heaven and you know that the artist is one that has seen and experienced a lot of life.

The depth of each of the paintings, the sheer brilliance in the use of light and the choice of colours — bursting forth with energy and yet wonderfully sombre, speak of deep respect for all things soul-connected.

After Hrs caught up with Tarun Cherian to speak about his love for painting, his views on spirituality and what A Piece Of Heaven is all about.

“My journey with painting is a long one. It began in the ’70s when I was a total skeptic and I began having a few cosmic experiences. There is no other way to describe what was happening to me and so I use that term. This got me thinking. My paintings were very dark then. By the ’80s the recurrence of these experiences only increased and by the mid ’80s, I knew something was calling out to me. That’s when I began my spiritual pursuit and it heavily altered my art and sense of aesthetics,” says Cherian.

This exhibition marks Tarun’s sixth solo art show and this one, too focuses heavily on spirituality. “The mid ’80s brought about a life-changing experience for me. It opened a lot of questions that needed answers and these answers seemed to come out of the enormous freedom that spirituality offered. I was born a Christian and the restriction of religion had quite seriously affected the way I looked at the world. I needed healing and that’s where spirituality led me to,” he adds.

A Piece Of Heaven focuses on one arcane aspect as Tarun tells us — “the sheer joy of it”. In fact, as he was seeking fresh inspiration, Tarun channelled God. “Paint me. Just Paint me”, was the penetrating and humorous message received. And so, as you stand and look at his paintings, suns will blaze, cosmic ripples will burst, and joyous colours will shower themselves on you from everywhere.

“You name it, I’ve tried it. ESP, aura reading, out-of-body experiences — they’ve all helped me. They’ve also made me realise that my paintings should not be about concepts. These are not concepts, this is my reality. This is how I see the world and the energies that affect and mould each and everyone one of us, every single day! I may not understand what I paint completely, but I don’t need to. If someone else does and if it inspires deep thought in someone, or even awe or deep appreciation — my role has been fulfilled. It’s just a representation of the inner peace within me, that’s all,” he explains.

The paintings are perfect testaments to this deep peace that Tarun so wonderfully exemplifies, but we’re still wondering where he draws his inspirations from. “My inspiration is life itself. I kept saying that there was no meaning in life and funnily enough it was that which catapulted me into this state of deep meaning. I just look around and sometimes represent reality as it is. Some of my paintings are very abstract, as in how my mind sees this reality, while some others are very literal — actually representing rays of light, shadow-play, and spurts of energy that I see all around me,” he says.

What about symbolism, we ask in conclusion. “Well, I have often used symbols in healing and so I have tried using them in my art, too. I have done an exhibition earlier that exclusively featured on symbolism, but symbols find their way into all my works. How they work is something that can never be explained but even though we may not understand, accepting that they are powerful often suffices,” he states.

Spiritual artist Tarun Cherian presents A Piece of Heaven — an art exhibition, principally of oils on canvas, at Alliance Française de Bangalore. From June 3-10; the opening on June 3, 6.30pm onwards will also feature vocalist Anitha Aswath and fusion guitarist Arun Shankar.