|
movements in the foreground. Calm and peace is restored in the background where an identifiable feature, such as a high horizon, a solitary peak, or a headland, brings back the reality he started with. In this 1990 series, Prabhakara has reached artistic maturity displaying consummate technical skill and high emotive power in his response to his theme.
Since 1991, Prabhakara has shifted his theme to concentrate on movements of figures in the streets, and in MRT stations. He dispenses with reference points reducing his paintings to space and planes. It is the movement of figures that counts, and not the figures per se. This line of development can be seen to point to only one direction - total abstration.
The source of Prabhakara's art philosophy is anchored in Buddhism. He subscribes fully to the embalming influence of daily meditation. He pointed out that in meditation, the mind is set free to dwell on a higher plane of consciousness. Calm and tranquillity is restored to a turbulent mind, and it is in such moments that many of his art solutions were worked out. He cited the early example of his 'tree' series. he started a landscape with rubber trees and left it unfinished because he ran out of ideas. For years the tree idea was at the back of his mind. Then one day, after meditation, it dawned on him to paint the sound and movement of trees rather than their physical attributes. Since then, he has great faith in employing a meditative approach in his painting. He claimed that meditation has given him a propensity for change, and that he is more daring and adventurous in his search to find himself in art.
Prabhakara is an artist on the go. He has come some way up the ladder of success in his chosen profession. He is still young, and with the kind of dedication and commitment that have sustained him all these years, he should have no difficulty securing his niche in the forefront of Singapore art.
Chia Wai Hon
16th April, 1992
|
|
