Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/269899
Serena Morton gallery is pleased to present At Hand and Far Away, an exhibition of new work by London based painter Jonathan Silverman. Originating in the study of Hindu Temples whilst artist in residence at the International Institute of Fine Art, Modinagar, India in 2012, Silverman's new paintings focus on the power of symbolic architectures and their exploration through the process of painting. Beginning in New Delhi, Silverman travelled to Himachal Pradesh in the north, through Madhya Pradesh to Orchha and Khajuraho, continuing to Varanasi in eastern Uttar Pradesh, all the while immersing himself in drawing and painting. Of the experiences that underlie the exhibition he has said: "With its singing sufis in the square in front of the tomb, the mausoleum of the sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin (Nizamuddin Dargah) in New Delhi left a lasting impression. The atmosphere and visual impact of this place was profound, where believers "possessed" by evil spirits come in order to exorcise themselves, their shouting and screaming heard whilst sitting in the square. The sandstone temples of Khajuraho, had a quieter, though no less visceral, effect in my identification with the temples as a potential subject. Covered in a skin of carved bodies and with the colour of the sandstone shifting throughout the day, I began to perceive the architecture as human, organic structures and this notion of temples as living organisms, animated by those who contemplate them, kept me immersed for hours drawing in front of them. Returning to London, Silverman's observational drawings functioned as raw material for the paintings now seen in At Hand and Far Away.