Pancha Tattva पंच-तत्व – Material Matters
Crafting Art, Architecture & Design
First there is the Cosmic Void, the stirring seed of an idea.
The seed germinates with the three gunas or qualities – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.
In the context of this exhibition invoking a new emergence, we define the gunas thus :
Sattva : the strongest and purest attributes of a material.
Rajas : Our dynamic intention of moulding and shaping that material.
Tamas : Our innermost desires that manifest and get fulfilled with the material
Making with material involves summoning all these three gunas. The hands, mind and heart of the maker merge with the material during the making process. The material moulds the maker as powerfully as the maker moulds the material, both maker and material immersing completely in the gunas, and then rising / emerging together in the crafted outcome/artifact.
In this furnace of the Gunas, then form the Pancha-Tattvas, the five elements – space/ether, air, water, earth and fire. The five elements that are the metaphor for the materials of this exhibition –
Space/Ether, defined by sound, in the vibrations of Copper/Brass, reverberating and resonating in space, as they are twanged and banged into shapes and forms.
Air, like the weave of Textiles, threads of cotton and silk, a delicious lightness – like wind in one’s hair, like the dance of dandelion seeds caught in the breeze.
Water, like the transparency of Glass, seen in reflections and cadences, movement captured like frozen music.
Earth, like the grain of Wood, layer upon layer of the flowering of life, strong, supple, yet surprising with possibilities.
Fire, as hidden in the heart of Concrete, formed from clinker, fired in a furnace, releasing that heat to transform from amorphous nothing into manifest shape and form.
Hyper-focused on the journey of material and the maker, this exhibition seeks to actively dissolve the boundaries between the disciplines of art, architecture and design, delving instead into the communion of creation and craftsmanship.
