SOLSTICE AND EQUINOX

"The pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his civilization he had discovered that a man cannot enjoy himself and continue to enjoy anything else."
- G.S. Chesterton

A look at her work and you would be reminded of the rustic, pagan practices, used to describe a state rather than an organized belief system. Equated with a popular, 'epicurean' belief, that is sensual, materialistic and self indulgent in its own terms, her art meddles with the visual space, making the works more powerful and lively.

Brinda Miller's recent works take inspiration from the astronomical phenomena of the various positions of the sun in relation with the celestial equator, exploring various themes of the Solstice and the Equinox. The Solstice provides hope for the rebirth of Spring after the "death" that is Winter-in other words, life, in this world, and in many ways, to the re-birth in the next world. Like the Solstice's promise of Spring time promises of immortality, her art, interpreted metaphorically, in turn reminds each one that 'summer will return'!

The paintings highlight the important congruence and dissonance between various celestial, narrative traditions. No matter what form the narrative takes, each culture's celestial stories tell a wishful tale, a future deferred, about how life on earth might have been. Solstice and Equinox is simply celebrating the act of painting itself.

At times sorcerer, at times painter, at times simply a viewer of life, Brinda literally plays with colour teasing forms out of the frame itself. The fusing of colour and form at times with deliberate strokes wills the eye to probe, to look yet again, before moving and then being seduced back into the gesture of viewing.

The language of signs and symbols, with architectural imagery, create elaborate semi-abstractions. The concerns of colour and line, in the multifaceted layers of space, plane and time, are drawn from an artificial, abstract cosmology. Being 'dismantled' and 'reassembled' again, some kind of shamanistic powers initiate an imagery of imagination. Knowledge and power play with the thoughts of the mind. As the occult would say, 'The truth is always hidden in plain sight'.

One has heard of the story of the alchemists looking for the philosopher's stone, a mythical substance that could not only turn lead to gold, but also prolong life and restore youth. But what does one say when paintings would do the same. Metaphysical rejuvenation of the body, soul and spirit, through the paintings, brings about a harmony in the vibrations. It is like regaining youth, like an attempt to transfer the essence of youth from the young to the old.

From textiles to drawing and painting, Brinda moves with an effortless ease which is seamless in its visual language. There is an added maturity in her latest work in which the colour palette moves from dark browns, and earthy tones to the more mersmeric turquoises, blues and greens. Paper, canvas, diptych, trypitch, from textures to drips which appear as latitudes and longitudes running horizontally and vertically across the expanse of the painted surface.