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The gift to create form, from the mist of imagination, is pure magic!


Thursday, December 24, 2015

Guilty As Charged 3 - Lechery


8x8 inches (unframed); Watercolour and Pen drawing on Executive Bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)


A Shaikh beheld a harlot, and quoth he,
“You seem a slave to drink and lechery”;
And she made answer, “What I seem I am,
But, Master, are you all you seem to be?”

- Omar Khayyam

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Guilty As Charged 2 - Wrath


8x8 inches (unframed); Watercolour and Pen drawing on Executive Bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

“I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.”

William Blake quotes (English visionary Mystic, Poet, Painter and Engraver. 1757-1827)

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Guilty As Charged 1 - Sloth



8x8 inches (unframed); Watercolour and Pen drawing on Executive Bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

"I am overcome by my own amazing sloth…Can you please forgive me and believe that it is really because I want to do something well that I don't do it at all?"

-Elizabeth Bishop, Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Award winner in 1970, and the recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Promises of Promiscuity


20.5x28.5 inches; Pen drawing on handmade paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)
SOLD. In private collection


Our eyes avoid meeting
Like moths evading darkness
But words keep spilling around
Leading us by the hand
Into meandering alleys
Dead ends...
Of old forgotten cities.


We recognize the charade
Yet, we indulge
For the sake of appearances
A fleeting glance meets
Catches flame!
We see each in the eyes of the other
Burning, a mirror of mutual shame.


Don’t take off that mask of words
The fine web of silk will tear
Revealing the dark circles
Under our smiles.
Cracks will show
In the walls of our hearts
The emotions all piled up in a row.


Keep the doors and windows barred
The curtains down, shrouded...
For fear our precious image gets tarnished.
A masterpiece so carefully crafted
With half truths and ruse
By the dust of dreams, the bile of regret
And spotless virtue, as our muse.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Tiny Deceptions 4 - The Golden Fawn (Mirage)



3.5x5.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)


Under a sheepskin, a wolf may hide
Under a flower, a snake
Yet the fault lies in our pride  
If we can’t spot the fake

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Tiny Deceptions 3 - The Red Herring (Fallacy)



5.5x3.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

Ruthless mind brimming with unspoken words
Misleading glances hide cruel intent
Cloaks make the cuts deeper from pointy swords
Reality hurts when dreams are spent. 

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Tiny Deceptions 2 - Two Faced Snake (Double Speak)



3.5x5.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)


Tell me this and tell me that,
Don’t reveal the fault
But riddle it with fat.
Serve it hot with a pinch of salt.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Tiny Deceptions 1 - The Little Birdie (rumor)


5.5x3.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

Words waft in the wind
Like dandelion seeds
Searching for a fertile mind
To germinate into cruel deeds.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Water Ballet



20.5x28.5 inches; Pen drawing on acid free textured paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)

The first time I had seen a swan was in a depiction of Goddess Saraswati, sitting and playing the veena on a beautiful white bird, in a calendar image. I had fallen in love with the milky whiteness, the curvaceous neck and the beautiful depiction of plumage. Somehow the image of that bird got stuck in my memory. Somehow that bird symbolized serenity and grace for me. The story of ‘The Ugly Duckling’ only enhanced this imagery in my mind. So many times I have scribbled the letter ‘S’ and transformed it into an idealized design of a swan in my school books. I kept seeing the swan in logos and designs on packets of sweets. The logo of Ramkrishna Mission was very attractive to me once. I have only seen a couple of swans once at our local zoo, and yes I was mesmerized by the way they were gliding around in the artificial pond. Then I watched the ballet ‘Swan Lake’ on television and I was completely enamoured with the beautiful concept. The beautiful imaginary tale ignited my passion for the graceful bird once again. I also read a story about Zeus taking the form of a swan to entice and impregnate Leda, quite an erotic tale it was.  Today, when I look back at my obsession with the lovely bird in my growing years, I feel I was searching for the swan in me all through those years. I guess we all have our swans hidden inside us and only a few can perceive them when they look at us and hence what is ugly to the world becomes so beautiful to a few chosen beholders. I am not yet sure if I, ‘the ugly duckling’ have matured into a swan yet, but this painting is my humble offering to those birds who glide and dance in water captivating me with such beauty, grace and tranquility

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Sebastian


12x12 inches; Watercolour and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)


Sliced by the hands of fate
Criss-crossing lanes
On the palm
Of your hand
Each turn
A choice you make
Each twist
The noose
Around your neck
Either Slackens
Or tightens
Without respite
No way out
Of the maze
Living with the choices
You make
Or dying for them
Whether the heart
Or the mind
You follow
You are twice martyred
And you believe
You have lived.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Amba


12x12 inches; Watercolour and Pen drawing on executive bond paper with (Click on image to enlarge)


Unwanted
Uprooted
Patronized
Tolerated
And yet unwanted
Bounced
From court
To court
Invalidated
In Love rejected
Undesired
Of being
Of soul
Denied
Defined Of existence
Limited
Constrained
Mutilated
Defamed
By vows and absence
Embraced
Consoled
Nurtured
Rejuvenated
Blooming in self love
Revolting
Offending
Sacrificing
Disregarding
What’s dictated from above
Defying
Denying
Slaughtering
Castrating
What’s accepted as respectable

Amba stands

Unchallenged
Yet vulnerable.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal