When art becomes sadhana

Artist Trishla Jain’s dance of dots and dashes create a harmonious whole in her new show

The line moves from a dot to a grid. The grid expands into patterns of structure that pause, create and slowly disperse into a formlessness that celebrates control and freedom of the breath, the mind, and the space in between. All of this takes place in the now, in the present, in the contemporary. Time moves in the form of constant nowness in Trishla Jain’s work. The two series, ‘Yantra’ and ‘Tantra’, may initially stand starkly apart from each other but, on slow immersion through time spent with each painting, the dots and dashes configure themselves differently across canvases to create new compositions. These configurations resonate with the present, which arises from a mindfulness associated with discovering the expanse of space between the breath and the mind that exists within each of us.

The mind, breath, and space are three important anchors to understanding and experiencing Jain’s work. ‘Yantra’ and ‘Tantra’, Jain’s most recent series of paintings, resemble dualities and opposing parts that exist within all of us. She refers to them as ‘yin and yang, the male and female’, which allow her to bring herself to the canvas, not in fragments but as a whole. On closer observation, viewers will notice extremely structured elements such as the grid and patterns from ‘Yantra’ in the ‘Tantra’ series and vice versa.

While ‘Yantra’ deals with a systematic progression of the focused, logical, and structured mind that helps understand Jain’s layers of entering the state of samadhi; ‘Tantra’ takes on the same mind in its unleashed, challenged, and boundless form, flowing free. Yet, the breath returns to centre both series of paintings.

Every line, dot and grid in ‘Yantra’ is representative of the inhalation and exhalation of the artist’s breath. The centre is clearly determined within the structure until, with a slow release, the breath is let go in ‘Tantra’. By adjusting to the openness of ‘Tantra’ and observing it with time, the breath gradually returns to point out symmetry and order even in its chaos. The tiny dashes of brushstrokes are measured lines of breath and every now and then one can spot a constellation forming only to disperse back into the flow of another order.

At a time when everything in our world seems driven and controlled by technology, Jain’s works invoke a sense of surrender grounded in trust that comes with letting go of control to accept freedom. There is sustained mindfulness in this achievement from observing oneself through the breath and mind in the present moment in ‘The Quiet Interlude’. With this alignment of the mind and breath, there is a very conscious space that arises within the body of work and the human body. For a form to be defined, it requires space. It is only when there is distance that one begins to observe patterns, grids, and structures.

On coming too close, the detail takes over but then pushes the viewer back to create a space that allows one to be absorbed into the painting’s entirety. It is in this act of emptying that we are nourished to the brim with a contemplative energy and light which brings with it contentment, peace and harmony.

Solanki is an independent curator and art writer