Studio Notes: Bildungsroman - a self-portrait

Bildungsroman: A self-portrait

‘Bildungsroman’

51 x 41cm, Acrylic on canvas

Artist Statement

Bildungsroman is a self-portrait which continues my exploration of the universal spiritual and philosophical canon to ‘Know Thyself’. I have followed a multi-faith journey held together by the creation of a personal God that expresses my own culture. We talk in private, so painting us speaking in metaphors maintain that sacredness.

This painting contains elements which bridge my Indian and Chinese heritage and traditions. In a previous painting I channelled my Chinese heritage; so in this painting I composed a prayer from a Bollywood movie – complete with a chorus of angels from the Melun Diptych in the fifteenth century.

Just as I reference epochs and artists as creative ancestors, Masami Teraoka’s expression of the capirote (the red conical hat) and his critique of Church doctrine appropriately describes my youth in the Catholic Church in the1980s – scarring. Many doctrines today still ask us to wear an invisible capirote as a seal of humiliation. I grafted telomeres (from our chromosomes) into the monk’s clothes because science is also culture, is another face of God.

My understanding of God is an Intelligence which creates all cultures, sexualities, and even science. He comes to me dressed anyway I want. That personal understanding is a loving co-creation where tears, like rain, ultimately leads to new growth and new life.