Moments in Zen, expresses Blanca’s enquiring engagement with the dynamic journey of the human spirit across physical/political boundaries into personal, cross-cultural adaptations in expressions of love, play, exuberance, simplicity, peace and quietude. Her Soul Migrations series pay tribute to the profound mimetic links between her motherland India and other world cultures.
Blanca’s fascination with Japanese aesthetics blossomed as a little girl, as she was regaled by stories told to her by family that lived there. In June 2008, she finally arrived in Kyoto – beginning her sojourn through Gifu, Tokyo and Sado Island. Of her two months in Japan she writes,”everywhere I found expression of a profound sense of exacting precision, meticulousness, compassion, dedication and fine detail in each human undertaking. And yet within this absolute expression of relentless boundaries…”
Blanca’s images mingle the animistic rawness of Shinto, the elegant simplicity and tranquillity of Zen and her own playful, poignant responses to the traditional and current in Japan.
In describing her portrayal of Japan, American journalist David Kubiak writes, “Half of her drawings present emblematic statuary that has moved beyond depiction and absorbed enough folk respect to possess a life force of its own. Her other monochrome work portrays figures from highly stylized traditions – the Noh play, the Buddhist path, youth fashion fads and the exquisite geisha world.
Her powerful multihued paintings expose the fertile tension between the prim reserve of Japan’s public life and the wild abandon of individuals’ private fantasies. Blanca’s travels with the renowned Kodo drumming troupe yielded particularly telling insights as she watched them transmute years of sweat and quiet discipline into thundering cascades of soul-quaking sound.
Seen admiring the exhibition were Ritu Kumar with husband Shashi kumar and sons Ashwin & Amrish Kumar, designers Abhishek Gupta & Nandita Basu, Gauri & Nainika karan, Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna, Nishant Peralta, Satish & Amita Gupta, Jay Bajaj, Neera Nath, Anita Wissenbach with daughter Sita, amongst others.
