Ishaan

Ishaan ~ Julie Clarke (Copyright, 2010)

Of all the photographs I've taken this year, this is one of my favourites. Yesterday, I attended the talk by Japanese artist Hisaharu Motoda, who explained that the notion of disintegration and impermanence ~ an underlying concern of Japanese culture, was the impetus for his amazing, intricate lithographs entitled Neo - Ruins currently being exhibited at VCA. After seeing his lithographs I thought I'd drop into the NGV International just around the corner. As I passed the water-wall entrance I noticed a small child crawling on the carpet inside the gallery space ~ his bodily form altered by the slowly falling drops on the window exterior, his body bathed in a strange distortion that made him appear as primeval force ~ a bright light out of the dark void behind him, his light blue clothing rippled like a distant lake ~ or the earth's oceans seen from deep space. I've since found out that the child's name is Ishaan, a Sanskrit name meaning 'ruler' or 'the sun'. The image has inspired me to investigate distortion, mutation, fluidity and transformation and last night I began a small painting using gouache. When it's finished I'll post it on this site.