Exhibition of paintings:

'God, Mantras and Other Stories'

Thulasi MUTTULINGAM

An exhibition of paintings, titled 'God, Mantras and Other Stories' will be on display at the Barefoot Gallery from November 04 - 21. The title of the exhibition is apt as most of the paintings are the artist's interpretation of the Divine as well as his understanding of Hindu mythology and Buddhism.

The artist is 48 year old Patrick Morin who has made Sri Lanka his home for the last 24 years. Of Celtic origin from Brittany, France, two things influenced his interest in Buddhism. He started reading Buddhist literature aged 15, the teachings of which gave him hope and a sense of responsibility for his own actions. He also started studying English in School at 12 and in order to improve the class's language skills, the teacher arranged for pen pals from across the world. Patrick's pen pal was from Sri Lanka.

Since then, he has been fascinated by Buddhism and its teachings, which he says makes him feel good about himself and teaches him to be positive and compassionate. Even before landing in Sri Lanka on his quest for Buddhism, he had studied Sinhala - at a center run for Sinhalese children in the UK, as well as Tamil at the National Institute of Oriental Studies, Paris. On landing, he studied Buddhism at the Pali and Buddhist University.

One of his paintings for example is titled 'Shakuntala.' In Hindu mythology, she was a queen abandoned by her husband, who due to a curse had forgotten her existence. Most traditional paintings depict her, with her young son, standing in front of the King in his court. Those paintings depict Shakuntala going to the King to remind him that he married her and owes her and her son support; the king, having truly forgotten is depicted as a monarch who gets angry and acts arrogantly.

Patrick's Shakuntala however is a face dominating the painting, surrounded by birds and vines. According to Patrick, her name means 'protected by birds' as her adoptive father found her as an abandoned baby being looked after by birds. The leaves and vines clinging around her depict her as the nature loving person she is supposed to have been; apparently she shared an intense bond with nature and could talk to the birds and the trees.

Another painting depicts two half faces joined together and acting as the roots /base of a tree - the Tree of Life. Patrick says the faces were inspired from the Arthanadeeshwarar form of Shiva and Parvati (half Shiva, half Parvati), but in reality depict Adam and Eve. That picture too is full of symbols and Arabic / Sanskrit scripts. Make sure you ask Patrick for the meaning. Viewers are free to interpret the paintings anyway they want of course, but Patrick has invested each painting with so much of symbolic meaning that means something to him, that it can be a fascinating experience to just ask him.