kucchu (The Brush)
Charcoal/Indian Ink on Guru Vithi Paper (123cm x 70 cm) - 1995
Limited edition prints only.
The kucchu is a link between the past and a presumed future where the Aaiyyanist Udaiyan has become proto-Aaiyyanist and has then become the anti-Aaiyyanst. Rejecting the mainstream dogma of choice and entering a state of being we shall for simplicities sake call: kucchu. This painting - even though looking similar to some previous works including a reworking of vIcchu completed in the fall of 2003 using papier mache and magazine collage, it is in fact a radical departure from all the works in the collection. This is one of the sakkaram works completed whilst in a soma induced meditative state and was commissioned by me as a study for a mural in my home in Newmarket.
The brush (kucchu) represents an Aaiyyanist yogic state where one enters a state of mind where justice and peace are transformed into colours and tones, and where sound and vision become represented by movement and agitation. The kucchu in Aaiyyanist Dravidian thought is almost analogous to the imagery delineated by the scales of justice merged with the doves of peace (in the Western trained mind) - its most semi-accurate meaning can de derived from the meta-physical brush to sweep away the karma that one thinks one has but in reality is simply an aspect of the whole.
Douglas Hall 2005
As in the Aaiyyanist tradition (stretching back 2000 years in the state of Tamil Nadu) Udaiyan uses Guru Vithi Paper (which is in fact a form of woven clothe) in the dimensions closest to that used by Vithi Telgu herself to create her interpretation of kOdagam (see The Journey/A History of Aaiyyanism 1543 BC - 801 BC by Asha Saptrishi for further details). He also uses charcoal sticks created via an elaborate Dravidian ritual (incorporating the Neem tree) and using a technique perfected by Udaiyan himself (email the artist for further details).
Finally, Udaiyan adds a contemporary touch by equating finely drawn lines/shapes (usually in Indian ink) to hint at some sort of cubic representation of an Aaiyyanist ideal of the Universe. He does this by painting a series of geometric shapes (usually rectangles) in various alignments with the original piece to punctuate the space around the Yogic figure and thus describe some sort of re-awakened linkage with the ancient and modernity.